The Past of the Sorceress
by dark.destiny.twenty.three
Summary: A generation after Ultimecia's defeat, the heroes and their offspring is having a crisis of the same kind. The kind where a sorceress threatens their lives. Only something is different this time. R&R please.
1. Prologue

This fic is dedicated to my friends; I hope you'll read this coven.

I do not own FF8..

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Prologue

A black-haired boy stood up from his bed. He was two hours early as he realized after seeing the digital clock at his bedside table. It read 4:00 am. He stretched a little before he stepped his first step of the day using his left foot. He expected that his left foot would touch something but to his surprise, it landed nowhere. He felt gravity pulling him down. He tried to scream but nothing came out. He hit the ground face first. He looked up, pain still torturing his head and body from the intense fall. He tried to stand up and fortunately, he did. His limp legs did little to support his weight. His knees were bent but his mind was completely aware of his surroundings. He examined it. He felt the chill of the place. It was very cold. He held up his weak hands and held his arms as he started to shiver. He can see that he dropped in an open hole, a very big hole. He turned around to see what was there. He saw black mountains topped with white snow. Snow started to fall from the sky causing the black haired boy to shiver intensely. He then realized where he was. He was on the northern part of the world where temperatures reach to a point where Shiva would be frozen to death. He dropped on his fours as the cold started to enter his head and brain freeze was beginning to kick in. He touched his sore head which hurt his stomach. Seconds later, while the boy was slowly tortured by the extreme coldness of the temperature he was in, he heard a laugh. The laugh echoed traumatically and reached his ears. The boy identified that it was from a female. He tried to find who was producing the evil sound.

"How powerless these SeeDs are. No SeeD can destroy the evil that once haunted their dreams and turned them to nightmares. The evil tyrant that everyone once feared because of the ruthless plans she has made to capture the power in the past, present and future. There is no escape. There is no place to hide. I'm back!"

The boy looked to the direction the sound came from and to his surprise; it was coming from a white haired woman with black wings hanging down from her back and horns from the sides of her head. He didn't know who she was but she looked very familiar. Beside her was a gigantic figure shaped like a lion. He reached for the griever necklace tied around his neck but he felt nothing. Then he looked at the lion beside the witch. He recognized it immediately. It is the same lion in the story told to him by his father when he was younger. His father told of a guardian force symbolized by the necklace of a silver head of a lion. It is the evil guardian force that the dark sorceress of time once controlled. Suddenly, the lion roared a terrifying roar.

"Griever!" the boy exclaimed.

The witch beside griever recognized the voice and immediately disappeared, taking her lion with her. The next thing the boy knew, the witch was directly in front of him. She was looking at him with her terrifying yellow eyes. "Young Leonhart, poor boy. Stop trying to live."

"Who are you? What are you doing here? Where am I?" The boy managed to say what seemed like his three last sentences.

"None of your business!" The witch angrily replied as she threw a dark spell of ultima on the boy. Just when the ball was about to hit him, he opened his eyes as he stood up from his bed and screamed. He tried to stand up to get a glass of water when a raven haired woman came rushing through the door of his room and hurriedly ran to his bed. The raven-haired woman is 32-year old Rinoa Heartilly-Leonhart rushing into her son's room. "What happened?!" she exclaimed as she preapared a large ball of blue fire on her hand.

"It was nothing mom. Just a dream." Her son, Louie Leonhart, not panicked that her mother carries a large ball of blue fire because of the knowledge that she is a sorceress, stood up and went down to get a glass of water. Before he could get out of his room, Squall Leonhart, having an irritated face, met with his son in the middle of the hallway and asked "What the heck happened?!".

"Just a dream. Go back to sleep Squall." Rinoa said walking out of her son's room. Louie went straight to the kitchen to get a cold glass of water and a slice of pizza in the refrigerator. He heated it in the microwave oven and went to the living room to watch some TV. _Wow! Watching TV at 3 am! That's a new hobby. _The boy thought. He chuckled a little as he pressed the button that has the on/off symbol on it on the remote. He would rather watch TV alone in the living room than go back to his bed and probably have the same dream or a variation of the same dream. He browsed though the channels as he thought about his first day in the garden. Finally, he came upon a channel showing one of his favorite movies; Sweeney Todd, a morbid Galbadian movie featuring a barber killing his customers for revenge. It was the 7th time he has watched the same movie but he didn't care. He hurriedly grabbed the pizza out of the oven and slammed himself on the sofa.

GF Carbuncle, a christmas gift Louie received from Edea, came rushing to its master when it realized that Louie was awake. Louie let carbuncle sit on his lap and started petting him. They watched the movie together and finished it until the scene where the barber was killed. As the credits rolled, Louie grabbed the remote and turned off the TV. He looked at the digital watch in the side table and it read 4:47 am. He still had plenty of time since Squall and Rinoa lived in a house on balamb town. Louie decided to take a walk. He fixed his black bangs which fall somewhere between his brow and his eye. He grabbed his white cotton jacket as carbuncle followed him around his room. He fixed his bed, took his custom made gunblade and headed on out. The gunblade was given to him by Squall for his 14th birthday, 6 months after being given, it was completely mastered by Louie's hands. He headed out of Balamb Town to find a serene and quiet night with no sign of anyone else except maybe for a noise in the forest that has the soun of rumbling trees. He followed the noise and saw a gigantic T-Rexaur in it. Fortunately, its back was turned to him so he had the chance to quietly run away. Before running away, he remembered his stubborn friend Nick Kinneas, son of Irvine and Selphie Kinneas, who would never run away from a fight even if he knows that he's going to get beaten if he doesn't. He ran away as fast as he could and encountered two caterchipillars on the same forest. He smiled knowing that the T-Rexaur would never even smell him in that distance. He fought the two caterchipillars as his first GF carbuncle cheered him on. He slashed through one caterchipillar instanly killing it and gunned down the other one.

After about 17 fights, he hurried back to their house to get cleaned. He looked at the same digital clock. It read 6:00 am. He hurried to his room to take a bath. He wore a black t-shirt, black pants, black shoes and his second white cotton jacket. He fixed his bangs and read the clock. It said 6:30 am. He unjunctioned Carbuncle since GFs from the outside are not allowed in the garden because the garden gives every student his/her GF. He went up to his parent's room. He noticed that they weren't there anymore which means that they went to the Balamb Garden when he was training. He locked the door and walked out of Balamb Town once more.


	2. Chapter 1: The Effects of Time

Thanks for reading the Prologue. This chapter would be one of the most boring chapters you'll read from this fic. Even if this chapter is boring for you, you'll still have to read it because it will carry some key terms that would very much clear the middle and last chapters.. :D I still dedicate this chapter to my friends, Coven. Enjoy this, or at least try to.. :D

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**Chapter 1: The Effects of Time**

_"Time, it will not wait_

_No matter how hard you hold on,_

_it escapes you"_

_--Ultimecia; Final Fantasy VIII; Square Enix_

Edea Kramer was sitting in her chair in the orphanage while thinking of what she will do. She thought of going to Balamb just to visit her "children". Since she couldn't think of any other reason of going there, she decided not to proceed because it would just be a waste of money. Cid Kramer was not home. He was out on the new city of Centra just wandering around. Centra has changed in the last fifteen years. Since the last sorceress war, The Galbadians and the Eshtarians teamed up to revive the Centraic Civilization. Paleontologists from Eshtar discovered some artifacts in the mountains and caves of Centra and protected them. Buildings were made with contributions from both sides and soon, people from Timber and Dollet started flowing into the city and in time, the whole Centra was inhabited by those exact people whose ancestors are from the Ancient Centraic Civilization. The new continent was ruled by the alliance of Eshtar and Galbadiapersonified by General Caraway and Vice President Kiros Seagill. Although Edea and Cid Kramer was against the idea of people ruled by those who don't have the same blood, they could not argue because the city seems to be in peace. Caraway and Kiros planned to make it a republic instead of a monarchy. Since General Caraway lived his everyday life in the City of Centra, the general's mansion in Deling City was entitled Rinoa Heartilly. The place was a very memmorable place for the group since most of their celebrations happen there. This was where "historical things" happened like the "making" of Louie Leonhart, the now 14-year old son of Commander Squall Leonhart and Sorceress Rinoa Heartilly.

Galbadia became a federal democratic country ruled by President Vince Deling, son of the late Vinzer Deling and Vice President Caraway, who still prefers the title of General. Timber became an independent state of Galbadia and also did Dollet. Dollet became the communication capital of the world since this was where the communication tower which was still inhabited by Elvorets and Elnoyles was installed. Deling City became Deling State after its enlargement. All in all, The Galbadian States consist of three states, Deling, Dollet and Timber. Galbadia Garden was enlarged and now still the biggest garden in the world almost reached its surrounding mountains.

Trabia haven't changed much except for the newly built Trabia Garden which was finished 5 years after the defeat of Ultimecia. Eshtar has openes its city to the public and built a garden above the Great Salt Lake. The Sorceress memorial is not functioning since there is no known sorceress without a permit. Every 5 years since Ultimecia's defeat, the Eshtarian government would search around the world for hidden sorceresses and detain them in the sorceress memorial if they don't have sorcery permits. President Laguna Loire built a city several miles away from Eshtar City. He built it after his dear Raine, Squall's mother. He named it The City of Burmece after reading a book named The 9th Fantasy which had a place called Burmecia, the realm of eternal rain and hence Raine. Kiros Seagill became the Vice President of Eshtar.

The deep sea research center became active with Ultima Weapon defeated. Scientists from Eshtar and Balamb came there to continue their research and since they started, they have discovered the existence of other Guardian Forces. Meanwhile, in Balamb, eight caves lie on the mountains and house eight different untamed GFs.

Squall Leonhart walked out of his car and opened the door on the other side to let Rinoa out. They walked quietly to the Garden hand in hand as they usually do. It was the beginning of Fall so it started to become chilly. The interior of Balamb Garden has changed since it was rebuilt by Headmaster Cid. The Garden was full of students of all shapes and sizes. Students are now divided inte three main groups, the Junior classmen, the lower and the upper classmen. The upper classmen are using the newly built third floor classrooms while the 2nd floor classrooms are used by the lower classmen. Squall and Rinoa entered the elevator before it rose up to the fourth floor or as many would like to cal it when the garden is in motion, "The Bridge" The elevator stopped as the floor indicator read 4 and the doors opened to show Xu, Quistis and Zell in the office.

"Quistis, aren't you supposed to be in the 2F east wing classroom no. 1? Why are you still here when we only have 15 minutes befor the classes start?!" Squall said with a panicking tone. "Fine! I'll go!" Quistis answered, irritated. When she entered the elevator and the doors closed, She realized; "Today's Louie's first class in Balamb Garden! High strung Squall" she grinned. Quistis walked out of the elevator. The walls of the 2F halls painted with plae blu with dark red fading lines. The students of the lower classmen wore no uniform. All of them are steadily proceeding to their classes since there is still 10 minutes to prepare. She proceeded to the East Wing and walked straight to the first classroom. The door opened as she saw a familiar face having a familiar stance sitting in a familiar seat wearing a white jacket with hanging bangs and a bowed head. Some students, she recognized are from the Junior Classmen. It was still 3 minutes befor the bell would ring. She sat down and waited for the class to settle down. The bells rang.

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A dark brown haired girl with a slightly orange complexion was running to her first class of the day. She was late, obviously she finally reached the elevator. She pressed the up button on the elevator and pressed and pressed and pressed it. She didn't notice that the elevator doors was opened already.

"The door is open and you're late." Irvine Kinneas, an appointed SeeD from Galbadia Garden, transferred to Balamb Garden after the last Sorceress War to become an Instructor and easily passed the exam while raising two kids, twins.

"Oh! Instructor. I'm sorry." the girl said as she raised her palm up and showed the back of her hand to the SeeD.

"It's okay. Now head on up and run to your class. Most instructors punish late students by making them defeat a T-Rexaur alone." Irvine tole her a lie to warn her that next time, she shouldn't be late. The girl entered the elvator and pushed the 2 button. She arrived on the 2nd floor seconds later.


	3. Chapter 2: The brown haired girl

Here's the next chapter. I'm still gonna refer to some other final fantasies like I refered Burmecia on the other chapter. I am gonna introduce another new character here, she's going to be the second new main character. She's that brown haired girl with a slightly orange complexion from that last chapter. This chapter is dedicated to one of my friends. **_Jo_**, at least try to read this okay? This chapter is for you...

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_" I don't know what the future holds... _

_But I want to finish what I came here for."_

_--Princess Garnet Final Fantasy IX Square Enix_

**Chapter 2: The brown haired girl**

A brown haired girl with a slighlty orange complexion ran through the second floor hallways of Balamb Garden. She was obviously running late for her first class. Finally, she reached the 8th door of the west wing. She fixed her messy hair and proceeded to the door. The door automatically opened and as it did, it revealed a black haired boy with a fair complexion and a height a couple of inches smaller than hers. She immediately bowed her head down and sat on the 1st chair on the first row. She opened her desk computer, typed out her full name, Celine Branford, and viewed her schedule. Her first instructor was Instructor Aki. She checked her watch and it was 5 minutes after the bell rang.

Instructor Aki looked down his list of homeroom students. He has 26 students, among those 26 are thirteen girls and thirteen boys. The 5th on the list was a girl named Celine Branford. He noticed the name and felt an immediate shiver go down his spine. He was now an instructor of basic and advanced GF study of the lower classmen. His classroom was a couple of steps away. He reached the door eventually and it automaticaly opened and in came Instructor Aki.

"Good morning class. Sorry I'm late." the teacher said. "I will be your instructor for basic GF study but I will not discuss about my subject today because this whole day will be spent for facility orientations and Garden orientations as well as for the discussions of the garden activities and the much anticipated dormitory distribution-at least for those who'll dorm. Any questions?"

The small black haired boy stood up, raised a short arm and asked "Sir, what's your name?"

"Oh! I almost forgot my name is--"

"Instructor Aki!" Zell Dincht, the vlonde martial artise hurriedly opened the door and bursted out his loud thoughts.

"What?! What is it?!" Instructor Aki panickingly stated.

"The commander just told me to tell the instructors to tell the students that him and the sorceress is planning to visit every class starting from seven hundred hours to 12 hundred hours in which all instructors will be observed, evaluated and reviewed!!" Zell replied breathing heavily and sweating greatly as he told the newsw in extreme exaggerated panic. The students hardly resisted their laughs as he did so. Aki came to the martial artist's aid by letting him sit on one of his metallic chairs installed just at the back of his table. Zell was given a glass of water to calm him down.

"You rushed all the way here and screamed all your voice out just to tell me that the commander is having another one of his inspections which he is forced to do every second school day by the sorceress?! Don't tell me that you'll do that to every classroom?!" Aki irritatedly stated.

"Of course I won't sir... I mean instructor. It's just that I have just become an instructor and I'm most definitely worried about this inspection 'cause it is my first. I would probably panic tomorrow. Anyway, is Louie in your class? Squall said to... Oh nevermind. He's in Quistis's class right?"

"I think so, i mean who else would Squall trust to take care of his son than Quistis right?"

"What about me?!?!"

"Zell, don't you have an announcement to make? And you should really find Louie and tell him what Squall wants to tell him. Don't you have a class?"

"My class doesn't start 'till ten but i better get going. Thanks instructor! Good luck for tomorrow!"

"You too Zell"

The class went back to their senses as Aki turned her face back to them. "Where was I? Oh Yeah! It is now 8:30 am and we are scheduled to proceed to the bridge at 900 hours to get your dorm assignments so I have 30 minutes to explain to you our different garden activities. You may look at your desk for guidance. We have four activities in one semester. The first activity would be the Field exam in which each one of you will be grouped into groups of 8 members. Each group is to go to a location given by one instructor. A student have to pass the field exam to be able to enter the SeeD exams. The next activity is the Field Research wherein each of you is to go to a specific place to research on a particular topic. This work is voluntary in which all participants are given extra points for their upcoming SeeD exams. The SeeD exams where in those who passed the Field Exams will be divided into groups of five members. Each group is given a specific task whose members are to fulfill. Although you are grouped, each member will still be graded individually. Criteria for grading you in the SeeD Exams are given the day before the said exam. Always remember that the choice you make does NOT rely on the leader. The leader is there to guide you but if the leader fails to do so, you may make your own decision. In doing so, the leader will be punished if your decision is proven to be more helpful but if not, your grade will be lowered. The leader must also avoid wrong decisions that the rest of the squad would follow and abandoning his squad. If a decision is made by the leader and the squad followed it even if it is wrong, the leader takes FULL responsibility of the action. An example of this situation if I may elaborate, is between Squad B of the SeeD exam roughly 14 years ago. Then, Squad B was Seifer Almasy, Commander Squall Leonhart although not yet a commander that time, and Instructor Zell Dincht. They were assigned to guard the city square of dollet but with the leader's order Seifer Almasy, the group went to the communications tower. This is a direct violation of the instructions given to them and therefore the leader and not his squad suffers the consequences by not passing that years' SeeD exams which leads to his alliance to sorceress Edea. Speaking of the commander, today is the first day of commander's son Louie Leonhart. Try to greet him when you see him. A student that performs well and passed the SeeD exam will be given a ranking, 10 being the highest and 1 being the lowest. As you go on SeeD missions, your ranking will continue to rise and so will your salary. The topmost ranking is the A rank. You may also take tests that would prove that you deserve to proceed to the next rank. The last activity is the SeeD inauguration wherein all those who passed the SeeD exams are given their ranks. Later that night, after receiving their ranks, SeeDs are to go to the SeeD inauguration ball. And of course, the Garden festival will be held a few months after that. Speaking of which, for those who would like to sign up for the Festival Commitee, go to the bridge tomorrow from 700 hours to 1700 hours and see Selphie Tilmitt-Kinneas. So there are the events but I still have five minutes so, any questions?"

The small black haired boy raised his hand and stood up. "Uhmm... Sir are the groupmates chosen by us for these four activities?" he said shifting his eyes shortly to the brown haired girl with a slightly orange complexion but moving it back when it was noticed. Celine noticed his eyes on her and looked away, unknowingly blushing while doing so.

"Only the on the Field research are you given the chance to pick your own groupmates but for the rest, no. Any more questions? If none, I'll lead you to the bridge now. Come on lets go"

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_Dear Diary,_

_I wish I'll meet someone new today.  
I'd prefer it to be girl.  
I'm pretty excited about it.  
I'm so excited that I'm gonna sleep early for it.  
Goodnight diary._

_Love,  
Misunderstood soul._

A girl with black hair reaching her shoulders wrote in her diary as she was about to sleep. She laid down on her bed and slept for the next day. It was her first day at balamb garden.


	4. Chapter 3: A Misunderstood Soul

Hey! here I go again. Anyway, I had another reference to Terra Branford from FFVI. I used her last name, Branford as the last name of Celine. Well, it's partly because I can't think of any other last name and you'll see the other reason as you go on in the story. More references will come on the next chapters. Let me know what's on your mind. Review my story please... This next chapter is dedicated to one of my friends too, **_Claire_**, here's your chapter. Have fun, this is for you.

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**Chapter 3: A Misunderstood Soul**

_"I will no longer live in the past. _

_We must all look toward the future now."_

--Cyan Garamode, Final Fantasy VI, Square Enix

Elaine Faragon, a tall thin girl with black hair that ends a few centimeters below her shoulders. was seated in front of her desk monitor trying to listen to Instructor Irvine Kinneas while looking at his still gorgeous hair. The boring discussions helped her mind wander off to another place completely letting her focus slip through the hair of the instructor into further thoughts. Her thoughts wandered back to her past home in Galbadia. She was brought to Balamb Garden by her parents because they dream of her to become SeeDs someday like Squall Leonhart. That's why she has always hated hearing the name of the commander and when she heard that the commander's son was supposed to be studying this school year, she just wouldn't stand being in the same Field Exam group. Her mind ran off to Eshtar, whre she dreams of going to. Suddenly, the bells rang which woke her up from her dream and brought her back from her travels.

Instructor Irvine Kinneas instructe his students to proceed to the bridge for their dorm keys. Elaine's thoughts was about to enter the things she could have been doing if she wasn't forced to study in Balamb Garden by her parents when her instructor asked them to stand up. With a sigh, she stood up and proceeded to the door. As her instructor led them to the elevator, she wondered if she will find new friendsw in Balamb. Friends that would finally understand her misunderstood soul.

The bridge was carpeted by a red carpet which splits up to three different doors. The door up ahead leads to the docks where Nida still controls the movement of the garden when it moves. Now, Nida is in a SeeD mission which means that there will be no movement for the Garden until his mission is over. The door to the right leads to the conference hall. This is a new room designed for meetings with instructors, headmastersof trabia and galbadia gardens, presidents and clients. The door to the left leads to the SeeD recreation room. This is another new room where SeeDs relax between missions or where instructors relax between their classes. Irvine led the class to the conference hall on the right. Since the seats are not enough, Irvine pressed a blue button on the door to remove the cicular table on the center of the room and place it to a place somewhere between the third and fourth floor of the garden. The chairs are rotated to the front and made permanent and new chairs are added from to room at the bottom. Irvine made a sign to the children to let them seat on each of the chairs. Each of the student's names were called to be given their keys. When all was finished, the class was dismissed. As Elaine exits the room, she bumps a brown haired girl walking towards her.

"Oh I'm so sorry." Elaine apoogized.

"It's quite alright. Hi! My name's Celine!" the girl replied.

Totally delighted by the fact that she met someone new that day, Elaine replied "Hi I'm--" but she was interrupted by Instructor Aki.

"Celine, into the room please!" he said.

"See ya later." Celine cheerfully told Elaine with a smile. Then, she walked off. Elaine pressed the button to the elevator which went down without her noticing it. The elevator eventually came to a stop at her floor. When the doors opened, she saw a black haired boy with bangs that hang on the left side of his forehead and reach the bottom of his brow and head bowed down. He was alone on the elevator. He raised his head and walked straight from the inside of the elevator to the room up ahead. He opened the doors and came in. Elaine caught a glimpse of the inside of the room. She saw Squall Leonhart handing down a gunblade to the boy. Then the doors closed. Elaine went inside the elevator and wondered about Celine and the boy who went straight to the docks. As the elevator descended, she wondered if the boy she saw was indeed Louie Leonhart. All signs point to a yes, the black shirt, pants and shoes, the bangs that look like the commander's, the lone wolf nature and the handing down of the gunblade all suggests that this person is Louie Leonhart. She felt the elevator stop. The elevator doors opened and she went straight to her dorm. She used the key to open the doors to her dormitory. She turned on the lights, she saw the floor covered in blue carpet. Her single bed looked comfortable, beside it was a book case, filled with books about history, Guardian Forces and novels. She put her bag under her bed and laid down. She stood up for a while and checked her schedule. It turns out that there will be no more classes until the end of the day so she brought down her schedule, laid down her bed and closed her eyes to sleep. She slept.

Elaine Faragon opened her eyes hours later. It was dark and so she assumed that it was around 6:00 pm. She stood up and suddenly, she felt that she was being taken to a place that she doesn't know. There was a person with a black hood standing in front of her a couple of feet away. Behind the hooded person were lying bodies of the sorceress Rinoa Heartilly and the commander, Squall Leonhart. The hooded person opened his hood. He was a black haired boy with bangs hanging from his hairline to somewhere under his brow on the right side of his head. There were strange markings on his head. These markings had the same patterns with the markings that was on Sorderess Edea's face when her body was taken over by Ultimecia. He had scary yellow eyes and an evil grin. He wielded no weapons but doesn't look intimidated by seven people surrounding him in stances and wielding weapons because each of them carry worried faces. He then raised his right hand. He laughed a terrible laugh as a dark glow started to be created from his raised palm. The spell he created enlarged to a full grown Flare ball.

"Which one? hmmmm..." he said with a freaky voice. Elaine was about to attack since she doesn't know who was the attacker but a mysterious force was stopping her. Celine Branford's eyes were filled with tears as she prepares for her own attack. Elaine doesn't understand this. As the boy realized that Celine was about to attack him, he raised his other hand and cast an instant spell that froze Celine's hands and feet. She couldn't do anything else but to kneel down. "Don't do this please." were the words that came out of her mouth. Suddenly, the boy's eyes changed color from scary bright yellow to calm blue as he blinked. His face was still full of the wierd markings but started to cool down. He smiled almost jokingly, "What the heck's wrong guys?!" he said. He then saw Celine kneeling down, crying so he reached out and stepped his right foot. As his hand emerged out of the robe he was wearing, he saw strange markings in it. He was shocked with what he saw, Elaine still doesn't understand and still wants to attack but the same invisible force was stopping her. The boy faced sideways, his right hand on his forehead as if really disturbed. He lifted his hand and the blizzards that froze Celine's hands and feet melted. Celine immediately tried to stand up and as soon as she did, he heard the voice of the boy. "Kill me! Kill me now! Please!". The boy blinked once more and once his eyelids were lifted, his eyes were the same bright yellow again. He tried to make a flare ball again and he succeeded. "No more chitchat. I'll just choose you." he said, looking at Elaine and in one second, he threw the Flare ball at her. "Elaine!!!" was the last words she heard before she...

Woke up. It was just a dream. She panted heavily. Her breathing came back to normal a few moments later. Her digital clock read 2:00 pm. She slept for six whole hours. She got dressed, grabbed her metal staff that turns into nunchaks and went outside. She locked her dorm and proceeded to the Training Center to shake off the wierd dream.

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_Hey! Louie here. Tomorrow morning, can you come here to Balamb Garden and bring me my World History book? I think I left it at my room. You can go there right? Thanks. My dorm room is numbered 723 okay?_

A blonde boy read Louie Leonhart's text. He thinks of a great idea so he packs up three unussed jackets that was left in his house by three of his friends. He brought a pack of standard 52-card deck and his triple triad cards. He left his house in a hurry. It was 2:00 pm.


	5. Chapter 4: The Second Orphanage Gang

Hey there! The last chapter had no references from the last final fantasies. Anyway, I want to thank BlackxValentine for alerting my story(although I have already thanked you twice in my PM). I'm sure this chapter will have at least two references from the other FFs and some other stuff. Do you like the quote at the beginning of each chapter? Do you like the progression f my story? If so, please review and even if you don't like my fic one bit, you can still review, I'll still take it as constructive criticism. So this next chapter is for my friends again (**_CJ, Kriztjan, Nikko, John Ashi _**).

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**Chapter 4: The Second Orphanage Gang**

_"I hate having nothing to do._

_It gets me thinking too much."_

_-Squall Leonhart Final Fantasy VIII Square Enix._

It was 10:00 pm. Zell Dincht's living room contained four boys at age ranges of 10 to 14. Two of them were playing a Triple Triad game. "What the hell! I lost again! I hate this game! Let's just play something else.". A blonde haired boy with the name of John Dincht, the son of single father, Zell Dincht. He wore his blonde locks up and it had black highlights on his bangs which hang to the middle of his hairline and his brow. He wore a light blue shirt with a personalized print of his father's tatoo on the cheek drawn on the embroidered on the back. The front of his shirt has a single printed word; "BOOYA!"

"I think I won... again. Chicken Wuss!" another blonde has said with a laugh. The latter blonde goes by the name of Carlos Almasy, son of Seifer and Quistis Almasy. He wore his hair down with bangs covering half of his face reaching his chin. In addition to that, he can call forth powerful dragons from anywhere around the world. It turns out that he was born with this skill. This was proven when he was one-year old, he was able to ride Bahamut, the king of all dragons with ease. "Now what?!" A third boy complained. He wore extremely short brown hair styled like that of a soldier. "Where the heck is Louie anyway?!" The last boy asked. he wore long brown hair styled like that of lone sharpshooter, Irvine Kinneas. The two last boys were Chris and Nick Kinneas, twins born of the moon. Irvine and Selphie absorbed some moon related traits while in the crystal pillar. It turns out that the Lunar Cry doesn't just bring down monsters from the moon. The moon also releases its energy directly to the Crystal Pillar resulting in mutation of two people inside the pillar. Although physical changes outside the body, like the change in eye color were obviuos 24 hours after the actual mutation, the change of physical abilities appear only on the offspring. Some of their special abilities are healing, a powerful offensive attack they call Nightglow. The twins also have the ability to summon the Shadow Dragon, a strong and powerful dragon that hails from the dark side of the moon. They can only summon the Shadow Dragon if the moon's dark side is visible from the surface.

"Don't you remember? He's in Balamb Garden." Chris answered his brother.

"Why?!"

" 'Coz he's studying there now idiot! His father wants him to become a SeeD someday. Haven't Louie told you that before?!" John, overacting once more.

"Oh yeah! Hey! I know what we're gonna do tonight! We'll--"

"Wait! Hold it Phineas! You're planning to invade Balamb Garden and disturb Louie's sleep. Well guess what?! I'm way ahead of you! You see Louie texted me that he'll need his history book so he asked me to bring it to him tomorrow morning so Ibrought your jackets which you left in my house and of course, Louie's history book and planned to go there tonight instead of tomorrow morning."

"Dude it's like 10 pm. It's too late." John said.

"Well if you wanna be a baby, fine. We'll just leave you here... alone. We'll just buy you a pink ribbon when we get back." Carlos replied.

"And we'll buy you a pink mini skirt to go with it." Nick added.

"Fine! I'll come with you to Balamb Garden." John reacted.

And so the four boys got up, wore their jackets, packed up their cards, readied their weapons and headed on out. Thy locked the doors, leaving a note to Zell that they'll be off that night. Balamb Town's silence doesn't freak the boys out, they're just too used to walking the streets at 10 pm. The boys continued their walk while talking about how they would be if they'd study in Balamb Garden while saying hi to the few people who would see them. Of course, they didn;t know most of those people. Thay just got the burden of being popular because of their parents' legends. Sometimes, when they're alone, they would talk about how they would be popular through their own legends, Louie included. Although the latter would always say that he'd rather be a normal, unnoticeable person than a person whose expectations from other people were so high. The four finally reach the town gates as they said hello to the guards. After a little chit chat with the guards, they went on out.

They walked the road from the town to the Garden and as they reached the half of their road, John just remembered something."Wait! the gates are probably closed down. How the heck will we get inside?!"

"Has everybody equipped their GFs?" Carlos calmly asked.

"I did." Nick and Chris said simoultaneously.

"I did too. Why?" John added.

"We're gonna cast a fire spell." Carlos replied.

"What?! Why?!" John asked.

"You'll see. Everybody target the North Star. Ready? Fire!" Carlos exclaimed

The four fireballs united and went straight up. A large shadoe covered half of the full moon and went straight to the fireball. It swallowed it. The shadow went down and it turned out to be Bahamut, the King of all dragons. Carlos and the rest of the gang rode Bahamut past the closed gates of Balamb Garden. Carlos thanked his Guardian Force.

"Dude. Who did you equip?!" Chris asked Carlos.

"Tonberry. Let's go and disturb Louie." Carlos replied enthusiastically.

The four walked to the gates of Balamb Garden. They walked down the paths they were used to and headed straight for the 1st floor lobby. A Garden Faculty tried to stop them but realized the consquences and let them through. Louie, Carlos, Nick, Chris and John are most respected by the Garden Faculty because of their parents' popularity but they will be under the control of the faculty once they enter the Garden which means Louie will not be exempted in any Garden rules. The four laughed as they headed through the seemingly never ending dorm doors until they reach the door numbered 723. They knocked twice.

Louie woke up after two knocks. _"Who would visit me at 11 pm?!"_ he angrily thought. As he proceeded to the door, he thought of the people who would actually annoy him like this so he said loudly. "Don't tell me!". He opened the door and when he saw who was behind it, he blurted out "Aww. Come on!!"

* * *

A girl took out five shurikens, three in one hand and two in the other. She was fighting six Grats, she didn't consider herself unfortunate to face them rather she considered them unfortunate to face her. With one swift strike, her shuriken sliced through five of these grats leaving one of them to be fought. She brought out one final shuriken. Just as she was about to throw it, the Grat casted Sleep Powder. She immediately felt sleepy and collapsed leaving her shuriken to drop and the Grat to escape.


	6. Chapter 5: Ignorant Pride

Hey people. Have you guys notice that I don't say ultimecia's death, instead i use ultimecia's defeat? hehehe You'll see why soon. Sorry that I wasn't able to upload for quite some time. I've been kind of busy with our preparation for our prom night. Anyway, here's the next chapter. Review please. This chapter is short because it didn't seem very important to me but remember the new characters I have mentioned here since they wil play an important role.

* * *

**Chapter 5: Ignorant Pride**

_"I'd rather die as a warrior _

_than live as a beggar"_

_--Amarant Coral Final Fantasy IX Square Enix_

The girl woke up three minutes later on the same place. She immediately stood up and hoped that nobody saw her sleeping in the Training Center. When she saw nobody, she stretched her arms and yawned. Then, she picked up her shuriken and threw it away frusatated that the Grat was able to escape. She ran away hoping not to attract any T-Rexaurs in the center. She walked slowly to her dorm. She reached it eventually. She reached for her key in her pocket and used it to open her dorm room door. She sat in her bed and got a hold of her laptop. She opened it at the Balamb Garden website and searched for her schedule. All student's schedules were displayed in the website. All the students have to do is to type their student number. The girl typed in her student number. A window popped up and asked for her complete first name, _Anne_ as she pressed enter, another pop-up window appeared asking her the full name of the commander of Balamb Garden so she typed in _Squall Leonhart. _Her schedule popped up in another window. She made a copy of it in a piece of paper, kept away her laptop and tried to get some more sleep.

Anne woke up an hour later. It was exactly 6:00 am so she still had an hour before her first class of the day, Para-magic Physics. The students took harder subjects after ultimecia's defeat but the gardens still concentrate on their specialties, for Balamb, Para-magic and Guardian Forces, for Galbadia, technological aspects of combat and for Trabia, teamwork and cooperation. Anne grabbed her towel and went lazily to the ladies' shower room. She opened one empty shower cubicle and showered. She finished showering and wearing her uniform. It was the first day that they are required to wear a uniform. She fixed her hair with her pink comb and went back to her dorm where she brought out a thick book and opened it to the first lesson to study. She finished at exactly 6:45 am. She stood up and opened the door of her dorm. She wondered about those people that she is about to meet and the instructors who are about to teach them. She really wanted to be a SeeD. She walked excitedly to her classroom so she reaced it exactly at 7:00 am. The door in fron tof her opend as she stepped in. It closed as she walked to an unpicked seat. The instructor came minutes later. The instructor was a new one named Mark Cale. He has a defect in his hands. His middle and ring fingers are deformed making them extremely shorter than the other fingers. This defect was nothing to be afraid of since he handled pens correctly and writes legibly. He can also effortlessly deal with nosebleeder problems involving the physics of para-magic. The only thing wrong with his way of teaching is that he gives extremely difficult written tests and he teaches slowly.

The class finally finished as the students hurried out of the classroom to get a tissue for the blood from their noses. Anne came out of the class semingly unharmed. Her next class was Summoning and Handling GFs. Her instructor was Quistis Trepe and this was the class when Squall will observe Quistis. Squall had observed Zell first.

Squall Leonhart had just finsihed talking with Zell Dincht about his observations on the class. He was walking towards Quistis's classroom when Louie Leonhart stopped him and asked for his gunblade back. Squall did not say a word and instead rolled his eyes up and looked back at Louie. The child understood that he left it in his office so Louie ran to the elevator and to the office where he found his gunblade redesigned as Squall's original revolver but instead used a thinner blade made of a thin sheet of gold. Attached to it was a piece of paper saying; _"Advanced Happy Birthday Louie". _The boy immediately lifted his gunblade. It was as heavy as his last gunblade as he swung it in mid-air. He hurriedly attached his gunblade to his sword holder at his hip. He needed the blade for his next class. This class will only be attended by blade handlers every Tuesdays. He hurried to the Training Center where his class has already started.

* * *

Zell Dincht noticed a small eyed black haired small girl with yellowish skin sleeping in his class. His class was History. He was discussing the origin of mankind and the theories involving Hyne. Frustrated about the student, he asked her to stand up with a very loud voice which woke her up.

"Miss, Do you know what w were discussing?" Zell asked.

"I.....think so sir." The girl replied.

"Then tell me what was the race that was said to be winners in a war for Great Hyne's incredible magical power."

"It was the.... Zebalgas sir." the girl answered surprising the instructor with her correct answer. Zall asked the girl to sit down and continue with his lesson. _"It's a good thing Squall didn't observe my class at this period." _Zell thought


	7. Chapter 6: As Smart as She is Small

The last chapter had many grammatical and spelling errors. I'm so sorry I wasn't able to proofread it. Here's the next chapter about the girl with yellowish skin. Dedicated to **_Miya. _**We all miss you. Come back soon.

* * *

**Chapter 6: As smart as she is small**

As the girl sat back down, sleep began to linger back to her eyes. She sat down and in one second, she fell fast asleep. It wasn't because of the boredom that Zell teaches, in fact, Zell uses interactive methods in teaching that would not bore any normal student but then again, the girl is not a very normal student. The girl, named Joy already knows what Zell teaches so she doesn't need to listen. She slept the rest of the class since Zell couldn't wake her up because of her knowledge of his current lesson. The class ended with a loud awakening bell for the girl named Joy. She got out of the classroom hurriedly. She was so excited about her very first break in Balamb Garden so she ran excitedly to the elevator and pressed the button. Once the elevator arrived and its doors opened, she went inside. She reached her dorm eventually then searched for her key. She found it at her left pocket. She reached for it and opened the door. She then looked for her book. Her next subject was GF Care and Compatibility. She found a book with yellow cover.

Joy finished reading a chapter thirty minutes later. She then stood up and headed out of her dorm. She locked her dorm. She went on to walk and explore the garden. The expanded cafeteria was not so much crowded due to the extra space it provides. She bought a coffee and went on. She then went to the library. As she took a sip of her hot coffee, she noticed a boy sitting at a desk with a height only a few inches taller than her own. He was a student. She didn't realize that she was staring at him until a brunette with thick purple glasses awakened her back to her senses. She snapped out of her "sleep" and ran as fast as she could out of the library never looking back. It was a good thing she didn't spiill her hot coffee. Due to her hurried rush out of the library, she didn't get to observe the whole place although she was quite sure that there was nothing interesting in a room full of books except for the dreamy librarian. She continued her walk. Her coffee was now half empty and rather cold. She visited the infirmary. Medics work there for their credits and SeeDs known as Medical SeeDs also work there after being a medic. The room was bigger and contained more rooms than it used to but Dr. Kadowaki still works there.

"Can I help you? Are you hurt?" Dr. Kadowaki asked.

"No thanks" Joy replied as she exited the facility. She then went on to the court. A new facility were students were allowed to practice on their praticular sports. She never wanted sports, n fact she only wanted to study, study and study. That was what she thought at first; that life in garden would only be about textbooks but she was about to realize that she was wrong. By this time, she finished her coffee so she looked for the nearest trash can. When she found none, she went back to the dormitories. She got her keys and opened the door. Her trash can was empty and she hesitated upon ruining the cleanliness of her trash can ut she suddenly thought that trash cans are there to be a place for dirt and trash so she dumped her empty coffee container and exited her dorm once more.

"This place realy needed more trash cans" She said out loud

She still had 10 minutes so she went to the Quad. This part of the garden was nice and quiet. It was where everyday student can relax and forget their problems for a while. The Quad was peaceful until a brown haired girl with slightly orange complexion came to Joy's view with an alarming speed. Celine had a worried face and was heading straight for the exit bumpng Joy in the process. Joy was angered by this as she shouted sarcastically

"I'm sorry for bumping into you Madame."

After the incident, Joy sat down on one of the seats and relaxed. She thought about her home in Eshtar an the distance she has travelled to get to Garden. She thought about the girl who bumped her and when she will say sorry to her. She laughed quietly at herself thinking that that's never gnna happen. Then she thought about her future s a SeeD. "What would it be like too kill someone?" she was terrified as she imagined the morbid scene. The bell rang.

* * *

A black haired girl wearing sports attire was holding a volleyball. She spiked it hard as the projectile hit the target. She was in a new facility called the court. For volleyball training, students had to hit the targets accurately and forcefully. She smiled at herself for hitting one target.

"That was a really good shot" a girl with small eyes, long black hair and short height said.

"Thanks" the volleyball playing girl replied.

"Sorry you didn't let me finish. That was a good shot for amateurs like you."

"Oh I'm sorry." the girl said She wanted to cry. Deep inside, she wanted to scream her angry thoughts out loud. She turned her back and headed for the shower room. She heard laughing. "Hate the laugh of bitches?" a tall guy with glasses suddenly appeared in front of her.

"I wouldn't call them that"

"But they really are bitches" another girl said. She was a tanned girl with big eyes and bl onde hair. Her voice was pretty loud. She made sure that it was lud enough for the bitches to hear and it really was.


	8. Chapter 7: The Volleyball Player

**Chapter 7: The Volleyball Player**

_"No matter what happens, isn't it important to try?"_

_--Bugenhagen, Final Fantasy VII, Square Enix_

The volleyball playing girl talked to her two new friends for a while longer right after her training at the court. She had straight black hair, a fair complexion, a proportional figure and brown eyes. They talked until they reach the girl's dorm. By then they said goodbye to each other as the volleyball playing girl iserted the keys to her dorm into the doorknob. She entered her dorm and grabbed her black t-shirt, skinny jeans, rubber shoes and her towel. Then she went out of her dorm and headed straight for the shower room.

She finished showering minutes later and realized that she was going to be late if she doesn't hurry up so she got dressed and ran back to her dorm. She entered the room and hurriedly opened the lights. She then searched for her books and as soon as she found it, she grasped it, closed the lights and locked the door to her dorm.

She then ran as fast as she can to the elevator and hurriedly pressed the button for the elevator to open. Seconds later, the doors opened and in she came. She pressed the number three on the elevator. After a few moments, the doors opened once more. She went out and proceeded to the east wing and went on to the 9th classroom. How she wished the "bitches" weren't there and fortunately, they weren't. The instructor was already in and it was instructor Quistis Trepe.

"Are you Camille Garamode?" the instructor asked.

"Yes ma'am. I'm so sorry for being late." she said.

"It's quite alright. Now go sit anywhere you like." Quistis replied with a smile and a nod.

Camille smiled and went to an empty desk between a brown haired girl with thick purple glasses and a thin black haired girl with hair reaching her shoulders. She wmiled at her two seatmates as she turned her desk monitor on to follow Quistis, lesson. She listened to Quistis' lesson for a while until after a few seconds, the girl with black hair talked to her.

"Hi! I'm Elaine." the girl said

"Oh! I'm Camille. Nice to meet you."

"So have your day been nice here in Balamb?"

"No not at all. Although I have made two new friends. Ughh! I hate remembering the bitches. What about yours?"

"It was good actually. I've met a new friend too like you."

"Oh really? Good for you. Let's just change the topic please."

"Okay. Sorry. How are the instructors treating you huh?"

"Fine. Actually this is my first class and my homeroom instructor was nice too. His name was Mark Cale. I think he's pretty smart although what he says sometimes makes my nose bleed." Camille said as she laughed almost out loud. Then she covered her mouth as she resisted the rest of her laughs.

"Who is your homeroom instructor?" Camille asked.

"Mine is Irvine Kinneas. He has nice hair and he is part of the heroes. Ughh! I despise them. I mean if they weren't so famous then my parents wouldn't have sent me here. It's not that I'm not having a great time here but I don't wanna be a SeeD. Too much stress you know."

"Yeah. But I'm sure your mind will change when you hear the benefits of being a SeeD."

"Oh and I've heard that the Commander's son was studying here. I bet he'll be a big pain in the ass."

"Aww. Don't say that. Don't give first impressions."

"Yeah I know. It's just that my parents are so... UGHH!!"

"Some parents are actually like that but you'll get over it. It's not like we'll be assigned to fight the whole galbadian army led by a sorceress under the control of Sorceress Ultimecia."

"Yeah! Let's just think positive right?"

"Right. So who was your friend?"

"She was a brown haired girl with a slightly orange complexion. Her name's Celine. We're tight now although we have been friends for only 5 hours."

"Cool. Mine's a cool gay guy and a girl with very loud voice. We get along just fine. In fact we've scheduled a hangout later in a mall in town. You wan--"

Right before Camille finished her sentence, the bell rang. The students huriedly went out. Once out the door, Camille couldn't anymore find her new found friend. _I'll just talk to her tomorrow. _She thought as she went back to her path to get to her next class. Her next class was Para-magic Chemistry. Her teacher was Mr. Steve Raldo. She knew at first sight that this class wasn't going to be good 'coz the last name was that of a monster. _A Raldo _she thought. She imagined a monster teaching the class as she laughed. She reached her next and finla class of the day. _Finally, I can rest after this, _she thought.

* * *

A girl with short black hair just finished eating her lunch. She stood up and put her plate together with the plates that are washed by the cafeteria men. She exited the Cafeteria as she checked her printed schedule. She realized that it was already the end of the day. She then went to her dorm and slept all the way to the deepest part of the night.


	9. Chapter 8: I Ate Lunch at 2 pm

Hey! Here I go again!! Our classes had just ended so expect more chapters this month and for the next two months(Our summer vacation's only two months). The next two chapters would be the last chapters that I would introduce main characters. Thank you for the alerts and for the hits.. I've already got 706!! YEAH!! Thank you guys so much. This next chapter is dedicated to one of my friends again. **_Mireya_** this one's for you. Enjoy!

* * *

**Chapter 8: I Ate Lunch at 2 pm**

_"We live not to forget our past, _

_but to learn from it!"_

_--Freya Crescent, Final Fantasy IX, Square Enix_

The blonde girl woke up hours later. Her stomach was grumbling. She realized that she had a late lunch, skipped dinner, was so hungry and it was too late to eat at the cafeteria. It was 2:00 am. She decided to go to the nearest cafe in the Town of Balamb so she grabbed her towel and proceeded to the shower room. The room was empty so she never waited in line to take a shower.

After a few minutes, she wore a black t-shirt and a gray jacket and blue jeans with matching blue sandals. She hurriedly went out of the garden as the cries of her stomach grew louder and louder. The road to town was so long but it didn't matter to the girl. Eventually, she reached the cafe which was the only store opened that night. She ordered a cup of coffee and a light snack. As she ate her very late dinner, a girl with thick purple glasses conversed with her. "Hi! Are you a student from garden?" she said.

"Yeah! How did you know?"

"I see you around."

"Oh I see. Today's the day we'll know our groupmates for the Field Exam."

"I hear there'll be eight students per group and there will be about 5-6 groups"

"Really? I hope my group's good."

"You having a late dinner?"

"Yeah! 'Cause I had a late lunch and all."

"Me too. Anyway, what's your name?"

"I'm Jen and-- Oh my! look at the time! I have to get some more sleep class starts early you know."

"Sure. I think I'll stay here for a while. Bye goodnight."

"Yeah. Bye."

The blonde girl exited the cafe. She was happy that she met a new friend although she never got to know her name. She went straight back to Balamb Garden, to her dorm and slept the rest of the night away. She woke up at 6 am. She took a shower, got dressed and went to her first class. It was with Instructor Irvine Kinneas. The class went on and on and on for thirty boring minutes until they all heard a couple of knocks on the door. Irvine Kinneas went ahead to get it. It was Louie Leonhart. He saluted the instructor, the SeeD way.

"Uncle... I mean sir, dad... i mean the Commander wants me to report to all instructors about the groups for the Field Exam. He said that the said groups would be posted in the dormitories at exactly 1400 hours. It will also appear in the Balamb Garden website at exactly 1400 hours."

"Thank you Louie." Irvine said.

The boy saluted his uncle and went on to his next class. "You've heard him, he said that the groups for the Field Exam would be posted at the dormitories and the website at exactly 1400 hours. I'm sure all of you are very excited for that. The groups are given a month before the Field Exam so you can train with your groupmates and be close to them and all that. Anyway, on with the lesson..."

The lesson went on again until the bells rang. Jen was glad the lesson was over. It was only 8:00 am. Her next class was not less boring than her first class. Her boring classes went on and on and on and on until the boredom was killed by class called Dagger Handling. Every student was asked for their weapon of choice before entering the Garden. Every Wednesday, at exactly 1300 hours, every student goes to a class about his or her weapon. Since Jen weilds two daggers, she attends Dagger Handling. Her dagger handle contained golden lines spiraling it up to the blade. The blade was made of stainless steel.

Her teacher was a guy named Dan. He assigned each student to defeat a grat single-handedly. It was pretty hard considering the Grat breathe out Sleep Powder. Jen held two of her daggers downward and rushed to the Grat. The Grat was alerted by the girl so it threw sleep powder onto her but Jen was able to dash away to her right. She turned around and quickly stabbed the Grat at the back with her right dagger. It thn swung a huge tentacle to its back. Jen quickly avoided it and punched through the tentacle's end with her dagger, causing it to be stuck to the Grat's back. She then used her right dagger to slice through the grat's mouth cutting the creature completely in half. She then stretched a little bit and went away.

Instructor Dan then demonstrated how to kill a Grat quickly. He punched through its chest, cut off the head and removed all the roots. It took only a minute and a half. The Grat fell to the floor as he dismissed hid class. Jen quickly ran up to the dormitories to change. She was supposed to take a look at the list that was already posted but there were just too many students that was trying to look that she decided to go to her next class to avoid being late.

* * *

A girl with thick purple glasses ran back to her dorm. It was a good thing that she had no class at 1400 hours. She immediately opened har laptop, went into the website and searched for her groupmates. She eventually found her group. It turns out that she was right, that each group was to have eight members. In the list, she found her name, Celine Branford, Camille Garamode, Elaine Faragon, Louie Leonhart, Anne Rigiel, Joy Hummingway and Jen Highwind. She immediately recognized three of his groupmates; Elaine and Camille were her deskmates and Jen was the girl she met at the cafe.


	10. Chapter 9: The Leader

Hey! Here I go again! I hope you're liking my story although there are no conflicts yet. Thanks for the three alerts and the one single review. This next chapter is dedicated to my friend again, _**Alayza. **_Enjoy!

* * *

**Chapter 9: The Leader**

_"Everything will be fine now... _

_Because I'm not alone. _

_If I call out... They will answer."_

_--Squall Leonhart, Final Fantasy VIII, Square Enix_

The girl wearing thick purple glasses was surprised that her group was almost entirely an all girl group with an exception of Louie Leonhart. She was more surprised as she saw the name under the title of Leader, it shown Jazz Adelbert. It was her own name under the title of leader. She was overwhelmed but stressed at the same time. As leader, she had to act immediately so she decided to have the numbers and the contacts of her groupmates by the end of the week so she then wrote a note in her journal telling herself about her plan to bring the group together for lunch or something this coming weekend. She then turned off her laptop and slept the rest of the hour away.

The days were faster for Jazz mostly because she was excited about meeting her groupmates. Finally, it was the last day of classes for the week. It was her last class, the class where her seatmates were Elaine and Camille so she sat down her usual seat waiting for her groupmates and the instructor to arrive.

"Oh my gosh! I didn't realize we had the same last class on fridays. This is so cool." Jazz heard a loud sentence coming from the door. It was Elaine with the girl she described as brown haired and has a slightly orange complexion named Celine.

"Yeah! And it's a good thing we're groupmates for the SeeD exams too." Elaine replied. She then saw Jazz's thick purple glasses in the desk where she sat the last time.

"Hi Jazz. This is Celine." Elaine introduced.

"Hi! I hear you're our leader." Celine joyfully said.

"Yeah well... But I'm kinda surprised that the commander didn't assign Louie as the leader."

"Oh. I remember he's in our group right?" Elaine sadly said.

"Yeah he i--" Celine was interrupted by the opening of the door. Just in time, it was Louie Leonhart he wore black glasses that day. He sat at the first row.

"Elaine! We're groupmates it's so cool." said a girl who just entered the room. It was Camille. She went straight to the group.

"Camille this is Celine, my friend. She's also our groupmate." Right after shaking hands, the door swung open.

"Alright class, take your seats." Quistis Trepe, their instructor for the hour just came in.

They immediately took their seats. "Class, I have noticed that for the past few days some of you disrupt my class by talking to their seatmates so, I will ask you to change your seats. Everytime you enter my class, you'll have to occupy the seat that I've assigned to you. Those who don't will suffer a deduction on your conduct grade for the Field Exam."

"Okay let's start. Louie, you go seat in the third row on the seat in front of the leftmost desk monitor......."

"........Jazz, Elaine and Camille since I don't see anything going on with you three, you'll stay on the same seats and............."

"............ Finally, Celine, go sit beside Louie."

After assigning the seats, Quistis started her lesson.

"So your our groupmate huh?" Celine asked Louie

"Yeah" Louie replied coldly, completely mimicking his father.

"I hear our groups gonna train after classes. You gonna join?"

"What choice do I have?"

"What are you bitter or something?!" Celine asked violently irritated of how he coldly speaks to her.

"What??!!"

"You just can't take it that you weren't picked as a leader by your father are ya?"

"You don't know half of the story Celine."

"All I know is your father didn't make you leader so you're mad at the world right now."

"What??!! Where the heck did you hear that story?!"

"I just know. Just accept the fact that you're not our leader okay?"

"Alright. That's it. You wanna hear the story huh?! I asked my father not to give me the leader title 'cause I won't be able to handle it. It's true. Believe it or not, I don't care!"

After the last sentence, the world between the two grew quiet. Until Celine can't take it anymore.

"Look Louie, I'm so sorry. I didn't mean to--"

Louie looked at her coldly then said "....Whatever"

The class ended minutes later. Jazz went up and told Louie. "Can you come meet us at 1700 hours at the training center?"

"Sure. I'll be there." Louie answered.

Elaine teamed up with Celine again and they went out of the doors together.

"Elaine. You know the thing we were talking about last time?" Celine asked

"Huh?"

"The one about Louie being bitter about not making him the leader. Well, it's not true. I ...asked him and it turns out that he asked his father not to assign him as leader since he couldn't handle it."

"Really? I think he's a nice guy if you don't get on his nerves."

Celine gave a guilty look and said. "Yeah.. If you... don't get... on his.... nerves."

"Come on don't lie to me. I know what happened earlier in class."

"What? How?"

"I saw you two. You were like angry at each other and stuff."

"I can't take it Elaine. His eyes were just so angry that time. I mean he was so scary. Then when I tried to say sorry, he gave me a cold look like this." Celine said, mimicking Louie's face. "I think I won't be able to eat dinner tonight. I can't forget his cold eyes. I feel so guilty. Shit this!!" she added

"Relax Celine. He'll forgive you. Just let it cool down."

"Yeah. Anyway, I have to go. I still have to go to Balamb Town to buy new fighting gear."

"What?! You'll buy another one?!"

"Yeah!! I'm so excited!! Anyway, see you at training."

"Yeah. See ya."

* * *

Jazz thought to herself. _Well that was easy. Now all I have to do is find Anne, Joy and Jen. Oh there they are._ She found them walking together exiting the classroom next to her last class.

"Hey. I'm Jazz. Your groupleader. Can we go train in the training center this 5 pm?"

"Sure." The three said simultaneously.

"Okay I'll see you then! bye!"

"Nice meeting you. You're the girl from the coffee shop right? Anyway, bye!" Jen said.


	11. Chapter 10: The Other Promise

Are the introductions a bit too boring? Here's where the conflicts begin. Just remember the characters I've introduced in the earlier chapters and the story of FF8 and you'll be able to follow. So here's the next chapter. Reviews please.

* * *

**Chapter 10: The Other Promise**

_"Peace is but a shadow of death,  
Desperate to forget its painful past...  
Though we hope for promising years.  
After shedding a thousand tears,  
Yesterday's sorrow constantly nears.  
And while the moon still shines blue,  
By dawn, it will turn to scarlet hue. "_

_--Kuja, Final Fantasy IX, Square Enix_

Rinoa Heartilly-Leonhart was talking to a person on the phone at their house. Her face was so worried and upset.

_"I'm so sorry" _

_"I'll see if there's anything I can do Zone. I'm really really sorry." _

_"Okay. Bye." _Then she immediately put down the phone and sat on a chair and thought about something for a while. She then stood up and got out of her house

* * *

Squall Leonhart just walked past the library when he heard a familiar spunky voice that hasn't changed for ages. It was Selphie Tilmitt-Kinneas. Squall stopped walking and turned around. He waited for Selphie to reach him.

"Squall! Rinoa's kinda lookin' for ya. She's upset but she wouldn't tell me about it. Something must really bother her." Selphie said.

"Where is she?"

"I think she's in your office."

"Thanks Seplhie."

"No prob."

Squall then walked hurriedly to the elevator. The elevator stopped a few seconds later and the doors opened. Squall entered and quickly pressed 4. The elevator rose up to the bridge and stopped. The doors opened once more and out came Squall. He walked straight to his office where Rinoa was waiting.

"What's up?" Squall asked.

"Zone called me earlier" Rinoa replied.

"And?"

"Well do you remember the time when we were in Timber?"

"Yeah why?"

"Remember the time when we were about to get in the train? Zone gave his train ticket to Quistis."

"Yeah then his stomach suddenly hurt." Squall said, then chuckled.

"This is serious Squall. I then leaned down to talk to him. I said 'Zone......We're gonna see each other again, ok? No matter what, you have to survive. We have to liberate Timber together, remember?'"

"And?"

"Well you know how Timber became a state of Galbadia?"

"Yeah."

"Timber asked Galbadia to free them and finally make them a country, not a state."

"When?"

"Last week. Then they received the reply from my dad yesterday. He wrote there that the president... didn't agree to their deal and is prepared for a revolution if ever they are planning to."

"Don't tell me that they're planing for a revolution and they need SeeD's help to do it."

"That's what exactly what I'm gonna tell you."

"What do you want me to do about it?"

"Since the revolution won't be for a few months away, it can be the SeeD exam."

"What?!"

"Think about it Squall it's th---"

"No Rinoa I won't think about it! Our son's in that exam too. He can be killed."

"No he won't Squall! He can take care of himself now. He's almost as skiled as you in wielding the gunblade."

"No matter how strong he is, I'm not putting my son's life in danger! How could you Rinoa!?"

"Don't you think that this was also a hard decision for me?! I can't bear my conscience anymore Squall. I've made a promise and I will never break it."

"So you would endanger the life of your son just to fullfill a promise to a friend that you haven't even seen in ages?!"

"Yes I would Squall! It may sound wrong but I'll do whatever it takes to fullfill a promise! Wouldn't you?"

"Not up to this level Rinoa! I woul----"

"You would break a promise? Do you remember Squall? The flowerfield at the back of the orphanage? The promise you gave me? Would you break that?!"

"Don't act like those two are the same Rinoa!"

"Yes they are!"

"No they're not!"

"You don't know the feeling Squall. You don't know the feeling of having to choose between breaking a promise or saving a life."

"Yes i do Rinoa. I was lost in Time Compression. I was finding you Rinoa. I was worried that I wouldn't be able to fullfil my promise to you."

"Right then and there you have already chosen the promise."

"It' not the same Rinoa. I'd give up my life to find you. But I'd NEVER give up my son's life just to fullfill a promise to your friend!"

"He's not gonna die Squall!"

"THERE IS A RISK RINOA!" Squall shouted. It was heard in the next room where Irvine Kinneas was.

Irvine immediately ran to the next room and tried to stop them.

"What's going on?!" Irvine asked

"Try asking her." Squall said referring to Rinoa. Suddenly Quistis opened the door. "What's happening here?!"

Squall opened the door again with the intention of leaving the room.

"We're still not done here Squall." Rinoa said.

"Yes we are Rinoa! I have already decided and the answer is no."

"So this is how you treat a promise huh?"

"...Whatever." Then Squall went out of the room.

"Did you hear that Quis? He just whatevered me! I can't believe it!" Rinoa said talking to Quistis.

* * *

Louie Leonhart felt something strange while changing to his fighting gear. He felt like there's somthing going on that he should really know but doesn't. He just continued changing his clothes. His golden revolver was wrapped up in its silver case when he picked it up and attached it to his belt. He then exited his dorm. He closed his eyes for a while intentionally to blink but he saw his two-ringed necklace breaking apart. He opened his eyes and felt it in his neck. He sighed when he felt that it was still attached to each other. He then continued his walkt to the Training Center


	12. Chapter 11: What Makes Sense

Thanks for reading the last chapter and all the other ones. Thanks to those who reviewed me too. I'm gonna make it really exciting from this point on so hold on to your seats. Here you go. I don't own Starbucks I just really like it.

* * *

**Chapter 11: What Makes Sense**

_"Right and wrong are not what  
separate us and our enemies.  
It's our different standpoints,  
our perspectives that separate us.  
Both sides blame one another.  
There's no good or bad side.  
__Just two sides holding different views. "_

_--Squall Leonhart, Final Fantasy VIII, Square Enix_

Quistis Trepe-Almasy quickly grabbed her cellphone from her pocket. She searched for Selphie's number on her phonebook. Once she found it, she called her immediately.

_"Selph we have an emergency. I'll tell you later. You need to proceed to the bridge right now." _She then ended the call. She did the same to Zell Dincht and Seifer Almasy. The three arrived minutes later. "Quistis what happened?" Selphie asked.

"Squall and Rinoa got into a fight."

"What? Their last fight was at the forest right before Galbadia Garden right?"

"So what do we do?" Seifer asked.

"We're gonna go talk to Matron and ask her for some help." Irvine replied.

"Guys can't we do this on our own?" Zell asked

"I don't think so Zell. We don't know who the heck's wrong 'cause both makes pretty good points." Selphie answered

"Yeah! I would think that Rinoa would win in an argument between them though." Seifer added.

"Oddly, it's a big tie between them. And you don't even know what the heck they're fighting about." Quistis said.

"What are they fighting about?" Zell asked.

"We'll tell you later. Right now, we have to go to the Ragnarok." Irvine answered. So the group of five walked steadily down the quiet hallways of Balamb Garden until they reach the Front Gate. The Ragnarok was sitting beside Balamb Garden. The five went in.

"I'll drive!!" Selphie excitedly said.

"You haven't changed through the years haven't you?" Zell asked.

"I guess not." Selphie answered adding a small laugh at the end of the statement.

"Wait! Before we go, I'll buy me some coffee. You guys want some?" Irvine asked.

"Sure. Get me some Iced Cinnamon Dolce Latte." Selphie requested.

"I'll have the Dark Cherry Mocha dude." Zell said.

"Iced Caramel Macchiato for me. Nonfat milk okay?" Quistis said.

"Get me a Caramel Frappuccino with Hazelnut Syrup." Seifer said.

Irvine stopped all of them when they were about to give him some money. "Oh don't worry guys. It's my treat."

"Thanks." Selphie said. She then went on to the driver's seat. "Irvy close the door I'm opening the aircon."

"Sure. I'll be back in no time!"

"Man, it's gonna take us a year before he gets back with my coffee." Seifer complained.

"Don't be rude dear. He just gave you a free cup of coffee."

"Fine. So what's the story?"

"Zone called this afternoon. He told Rinoa about a plan for a revolution of Timber. Since Rinoa made a promise to Zone that they would liberate Timber together, Rinoa asked Squall if he could schedule the SeeD exam right in time for the revolution so that the incoming SeeDs could help in the revolution. Worried that Louie might get hurt, Squall didn't agree to the deal. Rinoa reminded Squall about his promise to her and said that her breaking a promise to Zone is like him breaking his own promise to her which Squall most definitely didn't agree with."

" I just don't think tha---" Zell was interrupted by the opening of the door. Irvine arrived jus in time with a tray of all their coffees.

"One at a time okay? Iced Cinnamon Dolce Latte, Dark Cherry Mocha, Iced Caramel Macchiato and a Caramel Frappuccino"

"It's about time Irvine." Seifer complained.

"... Whatever."

"Squall is that you?" Selphie joked.

"Just start the engines already"

"Sorry."

After starting the engines, Selphie began typing the coordinates of the city of Centra when Irvine stopped her.

"Dear, you're giving yourself a hard time. Here I'll hold your coffe for ya."

"Thanks dear."

She then used both hands to type in the rest of the coordinates. She turned the auto pilot on, stood up and grabbed her coffee from her husband.

"So what do we do?" Selphie asked.

"Honestly, I don't know. I mean they bot make the perfect sense." Quistis replied.

"I don't if its the coffee but are you all out of your minds?!" Zell angrily made his statement

"What are you saying wuss?!" Seifer asked.

"None of them makes perfect sense. They don't even make any sense!!"

What?!"

"Rinoa is comparing two promises that are completely different and Squall don't know what a real risk for his son is."

"He's not risking his son just for words Zell. He's got a point." Selphie said.

"Don't you get it? Whatever he does. Whatever mission he gives to Louie he WILL put his son in a great risk."

"I think Chicken-Wuss is up to something." Seifer said. Let's just wait until this thing reaches matron and by then we'll know what to do." Selphie said.

"So what do you guys want to do before then?" Irvine asked.

"What about a game!!!" Selphie suggested.

"What?! No way!!!" Seifer disagreed.

"Aww come on! This is gonna be a great one."

"Fine. What do we play?"

"Hide and Seek?"

"What?! No way!!"

"Come on!! We don't even remember playing this game as children."

"Fine. Just for the memories okay?"

"Oh this is gonna be so much fun!!! But first we have finish our coffees."

* * *

Eventually, they and Irvine were both in difinished their coffees and picked Selphie as the it. Selphie closed her eyes and started counting. Quistis and Seifer hid together in a room full of empty boxes while Zell and Irvine hid in different places. The Ragnarok was so large. Just then Seifer had the sudden urge to touch some things. A few moments later, loud moans of pleasure were heard at different rooms of the plane. Selphie tried to trace the noise. She finally found the room but decided not to open it. She went on finding the other two guys herself. Seifer realized that Selphie has gone so he ordered Quistis to stop moaning. It turns out that it was all a fake to ward off Selphie's attention and she bought it. They then slipped away from the room and went back to the control room. Seifer found the mic and thought of something that would make Selphie freak. He turned it on and said. "Hey Selph. Did you honestly believe that we would do it in a room full of boxes?!" then he turned it off. "SEIFEEEERRRR!!!!" Selphie shouted.

* * *

A/N: Guys I repeat. I don't own Starbucks. I just happen to really really like it. So did you like this chapter? Review please thanks


	13. Chapter 12: Mysteries

Yeah!! I've got another review!! Oddly though, my hits haven't increased much. Anyway, here's the next chapter. Enjoy!

* * *

**Chapter 12: Mysteries**

_"I will live with my sorrow, _  
_I will live my own life! I will defeat sorrow, _  
_in his place. I will stand my ground and be strong. _  
_I don't know when it will be, but someday... _  
_I will conquer it. And I will do it without... false hope."_

_--Yuna, Final Fantasy X, Square Enix_

The sun haven't risen yet when the Ragnarok arrived the city of Centra. The gang was wide awake except for Zell Dincht who was still sound asleep. "Hey Zell! Wake up! We're here." Irvine said as he rose from his seat. The statement did not affect the sleeping figure so Seifer Almasy stood up and hit him hard on the back of his neck. It finally woke him up.

"What did you do that for?!" Zell said as he steadily rose from his seat while massaging his nape.

"We're here idiot!" Seifer replied. Zell hastened his speed as he realized that the giant red airship has stopped. The orphanage gang without Squall went down to the doors and opened it.

The outside was hot and dry. The lighthouse of the orphanage was visible although far away from them. On the left was the newly built city of Centra. "Do we go straight to the orphanage or pass through the city?" Selphie asked.

"I think we should go straight to Matron's dear." Irvine replied.

"Yeah. Me too. I'm pretty excited about seeing Matron again."

"Then why did we stop the Ragnarok here beside the city?!" Seifer complained.

"To destroy the monsters!! This is gonna be so fun! I've missed fighting sooo much!!" Selphie excitedly replied as she brought out a brand new model of her nunchaks called the Bleeder Scepter.

"Behold guys, my new nunchaks called the Bleeeeder Sceeeepteeerrr!!" Selphie added.

"Oh my gosh Selphie you haven't changed at all!!" Quistis hardly resisted her laughter as she brought out her 'Save the Queen' whip.

"But the name of the weapon is kind of a little too dark for you Selph." Zell added while attaching his 'Ehrgeiz' to is hands.

"Yeah it is. I honestly don't like the name but I like the design" the nunchak was made of two poles made of pure Energy Crystal, a sharp blade of pure Adamantine on one pole and concentrated fury fragment on an end of the other pole and the chains that was connecting the two poles were made of gold.

"Enough of the chatter it's time for a bloodfest!!" Seifer excitedly said so the gang walked on to the visible top part of the lighthouse in their horizons. After a few minutes of walking, 4 Blitz challenged them for battle. Quistis and Seifer stepped up.

"We'll handle this." Seifer said. Seifer pulled out his gunblade. one of the Blitz prepared for an attack by raising his arm that caries a sword. Quistis swiftly and gracefully swung her whip wrapping the sword and removing it from the gasp of the Blitz. She then rushed to the sword as she brought her whip back to its unstretched state. She beat the Blitz by a second to the sword which she quickly grabbed and threw to Seifer who catches it. Seifer ran straight to the middle of two Blitz which tried to attack him when he reached their middle. Seifer was able to dodge from both attack and jumps and turns while swiftly slicing through both of the Blitz.

Meanwhile Quistis swung her whip once more and this time wrapped around the Blitz's waist. She made sure the whip was securely attached before she tugged on it really hard making the Blitz fall from his glorious stand. Quistis realized that the other Blitz was at her back. The Blitz swung his sword towards Quistis who just felt the presence behind her. She immediately launched a big blast of her Shockwave Pulsar from her back killing the Blitz. She then shoots her Laser Eye towards the other Blitz that is trying to get up from his fall. The monster immediately died. The battle between the monsters and Quistis and Seifer took only 5 minutes.

Quistis folded and kept her whip and Seifer brought his gunblade back to the case and threw away the Blitz sword.

"Come on let's continue" Seifer said. The gang then continued their long long walk. After a few minutes, the gang finally reached the orphanage.  
The sun just started to rise when they arrived.

The orphanage was rebuilt after Ultimecia's defeat. The rebuilding was actually planned by Seifer, this way, he won back the trust of his fellow orphans and the love of Quistis Trepe. The outside orphanage was now the same as it was before the first sorceress war. The inside was also almost the same except for the windows which were now covered with glass and each room was now centralized. The memorable flower fields were not changed and still had the same beautiful glow to each and every flower that sways to the wind whenever it passes.

Zell knocked on the door. "Who is it?" a gentle voice from the other side said.

"It's us Matron!" Zell replied.

Edea hurriedly opened the door and asked the gang to get in.

"Where's Squall?" Edea asked.

"That's kinda why we went here Matron." Selphie replied.

"What?!?! Squall's dead?!?!?!"

"No. It's nothing like that. We're just so devastated that Rinoa and Squall are fighting."

"Wait let me just get you all a glass of water." Edea said as she stood up from her seat and proceeded to the kitchen.

"Didn't Matron hire any helpers here in her house?" Zell asked.

"Doesn't look like she wanted to." Quistis answered.

"Does anyone notice that Matron's face is a little disturbed?" Selphie questioned.

"Yeah. It's like something's really really wrong." Zell replied. Just then, Edea arrived from the kitchen carrying a tray with 5 glasses of water.

"You know I'd love to talk about Squall and Rinoa but there is a more serious problem facing us. It turns out that Dr. Odine miscalculated Ultimecia's age." said Edea.

"What do you mean Matron?" Zell asked.

"Ultimecia's already alive. She's already born. In fact she's about fourteen years old by now. She may or may not already be a sorceress. The only possible sorceress right now is the girl that Rinoa will give her powers to. It may not be too late to stop her."

"Why stop her? She's just a little child." Seifer complained.

"Seifer don't you remember her story? She's a sorceress who already rules over the future and wants to rule over all of time and space which means she will rule your sons' generations. We can stop her by making sure that Rinoa gives her powers to a boy and only to a boy."

"Wait Matron. If we stop Ultimecia now, the past us wouldn't have any other Ultimecia to stop which means we won't be able to meet with each other in the past.." Quistis said.

"Which means your children are the proof. As long as your children exist, Ultimecia will still rule over them."

"Your saying that if there was no Ultimecia, we would've never met again and we'll be destined not to meet forever?"

"Yes. Well there is another way but it is pretty risky. You'd have to train your children to fight the Ultimecia that comes out from the child that lives today and when the time comes, they'll be ready because you can never know who that child is."

"Okay Matron. I'll call Squall to cancel all classes today and proceed here. We'll stay here to plan for our future and fix the thing between Squall and Rinoa."

"DO NOT bring the children here." Matron finally said before she went to a room where they all will stay for the night. "Here's your room. Tell Squall to bring your stuff too okay?"


	14. Chapter 13: A Day Without Classes Pt1

Hey guys. The last chapter's kinda off but it's got real relevance with my main storyline. Thank you for a big increase of hits. Reviews please. This chapter's also gonna be great. I just wanna tell you that I wanted to tell you that I stick to greater than a thousand words but less than two thousand words per chapter so I divided this chapter into two 'coz it's gonna be long. I'm weird LOL. The divisions here are not arranged in chronological order. ENJOY!!

* * *

**Chapter 13: A Day Without Classes Pt. 1  
**

_ "Sit your ass down in that chair _

_and drink your goddamn tea!!"_

_--Cid Highwind, Final Fantasy VII, Square Enix  
_

Louie Leonhart woke up due to the extremely high pitched noise that was produced by the irritating alarm clock. He stood up from bed and grabbed his towel and his plain black shirt and black jeans and all his other clothing. He went straight to the boys' shower room. He woke up pretty early since his group was planning another training session before classes so the shower room was empty. He finished showering and getting clothed after a couple of minutes. After which he brushed his teeth, fixed his long black bangs which hang from his forehead to somewhere between his cold blue eyes and went back to his dorm. He then junctioned Quetzalcoatl, the GF assigned to him, grabbed his griever necklace and wore it before snatching his gunblade and placing it in his belt, closing the lights, locking the door and proceeding to the training center.

* * *

Celine Branford woke up due to the extremely high pitched noise that was produced by the irritating alarm clock. She stood up from bed and stretched a little. She had no dinner last night so she was hungry. She thought of getting breakfast but it was just too late for that since her group talked about another training session that morning. The group was really getting together now, except for her and Louie who still wasn't talking to her. She quickly grabbed her towel and a purple sleeveless shirt which match perfectly with her purple gladiator shoes and her cargo shorts. She went to the girls' shower room where she met Elaine Faragon. She showered for a couple of minutes and got dressed for another couple of minutes. When she went out of the shower, Elaine was gone. It turns out that Elaine was a little bit earlier than she was. She fixed her brown bangs which covered one of her sparkling gray eyes and tied the back of her brown hair into a neatly made ponytail. She brushed her teeth and went back to her dorm where she grabbed her two guns which are situated in the left and right side of her belt and junctioned her GF, Ampithere, a feathered dragon that breathes out fire and strangles its opponents. She then closed the lights, locked the door and proceeded to the training center.

* * *

Elaine Faragon woke up due to the extremely high pitched noise that was produced by the irritating alarm clock. She stood up from bed and turned off her alarm clock. She grabbed her towel and a loose red shirt and a pair of skinny jeans. She fixed her hair in a ponytail and went straight to the girls' shower room where she was alone. After showering for a few minutes, she got dressed and brushed her teeth. She then combed her hair putting it behind her skinny neck. Just then her friend, Celine Branford entered looking like she just got up from bed. They said hi to each other, chatted for a little while then Celine went into the shower. She realized that she had no one to talk to anymore, she left the shower room and went back to her dorm. She grabbed her Morning Star and fastened it to her belt. She then junctioned her assigned GF, Knucker, a red water dragon. She then closed the lights, locked the door and proceeded to the training center.

* * *

Anne Rigiel woke up due to her extremely irritating pillow. She haven't had a good sleep for days. She looked at her alarm clock and saw that it was only 3:00 am. She didn't bother trying to sleep again so she snatched her towel and her clothes. She went out of her dorm and took a bath. She fixed her hair and brushed her teeth after getting dressed. She then went back to her dorm and equipped her weapon and GF. She prepared for a long waiting in the training center since she was so much earlier than everyone else. She then closed the lights, locked the door and proceeded to the training center.

* * *

"Hey dude dad called me and said that there would be no classes for the whole day today." the excited John Dincht told Carlos Almasy.

"So? We aren't attending any classes for this semester. What the heck!?!" Carlos replied flipping his long blonde bangs.

"We can go disturb Louie today!!"

"That can't be. He gave me a hundred bucks to not disturb him"

"But not me."

"Oh no you don't!!" Carlos replied and lifted John up through his collar. "You are NOT going to disturb Louie while he is training with his groupmates because if you did I'm gonna have to give him TWO hundred dollars!!"

"OKAY OKAY Bring me down!!" John insisted. With that sentence, the enraged Carlos did bring him down and calmed himself.

"IF I hear ANY reports about Louie's disturbance, you're gonna get it wuss!!" Carlos said

"Fine. So what do we do?" John asked. The twins were just staring at the scene that would always flood their eyes. They aren't scared anymore since they now that Carlos could never kill John but he could hurt him. Pain was nothing to them.

"Let's go to town." Nick said

"It's 6 in the morning dude!!" Carlos said.

"Arcade's open at 6:30. I bet there's not gonna be any person yet there. It'll be all to us." Chris replied.

"What the heck are we doing here?! Let's go!!" Carlos answered so they proceeded to the town from the garden. The second orphanage gang went on to enjoy their day not knowing that their parents are trying to solve a seemingly unsolvable problem that concerns their very future.


	15. Chapter 14: A Day Without Classes Pt 2

Here's the 2nd part.. Please do read this and the last chapter because here I will describe the new characters more deeply. They are very important to the storyline. Anyway thanks to those who follow my story and those who makes an effort to review my fic. Here's the second part. Reviews please.

* * *

**Chapter 14: A Day Without Classes Pt.2 (The Revelation)**

_"Hold on to your drawers _

_and don't piss in 'em."  
_

_--Cid Highwind, Final Fantasy VII, Square Enix._

Joy Hummingway woke up due to the extremely high pitched noise that was produced by the irritating alarm clock. She got up from bed and switched off her alarm clock. She got a white sleeveless shirt and a black top with sleeves hanging down to the bottom of her elbow. She also got blue faded jeans and black shoes and her towel. She then opened the door and went straight to the girls' shower room. While showering, she felt someone walk in the room. After showering for a couple of minutes, she went out and got dressed. She let her black hair flow down to her shoulders. She also clipped her bangs to reveal her small brown eyes and the rest of her small face. She fixed her shirt, brushed her teeth and wandered back to her dorm. She then junctioned Wyvern, a big dragon that breathes out poisonous breath to its enemies. It is a brown flying dragon with only one pair of arms and three sharp claws for each arm. It has a long spiny tail with a poisonous sharp end. She then snatched her knives that she throws to opponents called Ballistic Knives. She closed the lights, locked the door and proceeded to the training center.

* * *

Camille Garamode woke up due to the extremely high pitched noise that was produced by the irritating alarm clock. She turned it off then got up from her bed. She then grabbed a black t-shirt with small white dots and gray jeans. She tapped her pink volleyball before going out and going to the shower room. She showered for a while and got dressed before brushing her teeth. She then fixed her short brown hair and full bangs that never cover any of her eyes, went back to her dorm and got her light axe. She fastened it to her belt and junctioned Antaeus, an earth bound giant that crushes its enemies with the strength that is given to him by the ground. He is nothing when his feet is not attached to the ground. She closed the lights, locked the door and proceeded to the training center.

* * *

Jen Highwind woke up due to the extremely high pitched noise that was produced by the irritating alarm clock. She quickly rose from her bed and grasped her towel, a hot pink blouse, blue straight cut jeans and a brown headband. She then skipped merrily to the girls' shower room and found another girl that was still showering. She then showered. While showering, she felt the presence that was showering in the cubicle beside hers step out and get out of the room. She finished after a few minutes and got dressed. She fixed her brown headband that pulls up some of her brownish blonde bangs that covers her right eye that is attached to her light brownish face. She smiled before going back to her dorm. She then snatched her daggers and attached it to her belt. She then junctioned Triton, a merman from the depths of the coldest parts of the ocean that hurls large icicles to his opponents. She then closed the lights, locked the door and proceeded to the training center.

* * *

Jazz Adelbert woke up due to the extremely high pitched noise that was produced by the irritating alarm clock. She advanced from her bed and went straight to the shower room. Just before she opens the shower door, she remembered something really really important. She forgot her towel and her dress. She quickly went back to her dorm and grabbed a light pink blouse and purple straight cut jeans. She ran back to the shower room and showered. She hurried showering as she realized that she was going to be late if she didn't. She fixed her short hair and pulled back the hair that covers her eyes. She ran back to her dorm and quickly junctioned Typhon, a winged beast with long hair and a second half of the creature split into two snake-like tails. It blasts huge packets of wind that strongly damages the opponent. She snatched her high tech crossbow and fastened it to a strap at her back. She then closed the lights, locked the door and proceeded to the training center.

* * *

The group met in the entrance of the training center. Suddenly, they heard a voice very familiar to one of their groupmates.

"Testing, testing. Is this thing on? Classes are suspended for the whole day because of an unaccepted reason." The voice of Squall Leonhart said through the speakers.

"Come on Louie pleease.." Celine pleaded

"What? What are you saying?" Louie replied.

"You know. About the other day. I'm so sorry. Are you mad at me?"

"No. I can't be, we just met. I'm just staying away from you. I have to learn."

"From what??"

"From the fact that not everyone can be trusted with your feelings. Especially those you are forced to hang out to."

"What?"

"I ain't gonna be hurt anymore Celine, so I'm staying away from you."

"You know you sound like your father." An unknown voice interrupted their conversation. It was Rinoa Heartilly-Leonhart.

"What?!?" Louie argued.

"Well. Good luck with your training Louie and be very very careful with your magic okay?"

"Wait what about the---"

"I'll tell you next time." Rinoa said as she exited the facility that his son was in.

"Look. I don't need you okay? But... maybe I haven't given you enough of a chance. Fine."

"Thanks"

"Can't stay mad at you anyway." Louie said in a low, silent voice.

"What?!?!"

"Nothing"

"HHHHUUUUUUGGG!!"

"No way!!"

"Come on guys. That's enough. Let's just go." Jazz said irritated.

"So what are we gonna do??" Elaine said while walking.

"Let's go fight a T-Rexaur." Louie excitedly said.

"WHERE THE HECK DID YOU GET THAT IDEA?!?" Celine complained.

"Come on! It's gonna be easy."

"How did you know?!?!"

"Come on!!! Let's go!!" Louie said running down the hall into the dangerous facility.

"He's crazy!!" Jen said.

"Yeah I know." Camille replied following the excited boy down the path to danger. All of them were pretty nervous except for Louie.


	16. Chapter 15: Be Very Very Careful

Hey guys what's up? Here goes the next chapter.

* * *

**Chapter 15: Be Very Very Careful**

_The hardest person to know is one's self._"

_--Paine, Final Fantasy X, Square Enix_

The group of seven followed the excited Louie Leonhart down a long trail in the training center. They finally caught up with him when they saw him standing and looking up shocked underneath a really big shadow. The other seven looked up and saw a big red T-Rexaur. Louie suddenly drew out his golden gunblade and wore an extremely confident face.

"Come on guys we can take 'em" Louie encouraged.

"What are you? crazy?!" Joy said.

"Yes!!" Louie replied running towards the back of the T-Rexaur. The creature swung its huge red tail. Louie quickly dodges it and swings his blade causing a scratch in the tail of the powerful being. The T-rexaur roared in pain. It quickly changed target. It advanced and tried to bite Elaine Faragon who swiftly evades it and swings her morning star plunging the spiked ball onto the hard flesh at the nose of the creature. It then raised its head and swung Elaine who was still holding on to her weapon which was still tightly attached to the creature.

Celine quickly brought up her guns and loaded it with her powerful and extremely expensive diamond bullets. She aims it to the nose of the dinosaur. She then shot one bullet which hit the target and released the ball from the T-Rexaur. Elaine's fall was broken by a Float spell casted by Louie. The others quickly brought out their weapons and stared at each other symbolizing a very complicated plan that might just work. Louie and Camille ran to one of the front legs of the T-Rexaur and Jen and Elaine ran to the other front leg. Those with ranged weapons ran farther and tried to distract the creature from different directions by purposely missing the target. The T-Rexaur tried to chase each projectile that misses it causing it to ignore those who weakens his legs.

Joy threw one of her Ballistic Knives and it hit the T-Rexaur. The creature was able to parry it causing it to go down and head for Louie's head. He quickly ran away which made the monster chase him. Their plan has failed because there were no effects in the running speed of the T-Rexaur. Louie quickly casted a Blind spell which hit it. He then ran back to his groupmates and prepared for the worst. Celine Branford's stomach suddenly hurt. She realized that she hasn't eaten since last night. She decided to ignore the symptom and went back to fighting. The T-Rexaur prepared to hit by swinging its large head. It did two big bites which were quickly evaded by the group.

Celine felt her stomach grumbling and pain building up. Suddenly, her head hurt. She knelt down because of the extreme pain. She dropped her guns. The T-Rexaur saw her vulnerable and swung its tail. Before it hit her, a large amount of ice that came from the ground pushed the creature away. The impact made the monster fall on its own weight. Then, a big, mysterious blast of sharp and large icicles quickly fell from the sky. Before the monster could stand up, the icicles hit him. Then a large ball of purple light appeared above the severely wounded beast. The ball grew and hit the monstrosity with a very powerful force. The blast caused a lot of dust which was suddenly thwarted off by a huge gust of wind. It reveals a bowed Louie Leonhart with a very sad look. The T-Rexaur was nowhere in sight.

Louie turned and headed for the exit.

"Wait Louie.. Where are you going?? Did you just...?" Elaine asked

"Yes. I did. I casted a Blizzaga, a Blizzara and a Flare.. Well sort of.."

"You killed that thing. Aren't you glad?" Celine questioned.

"Do you guys remember my mother earlier? She told me to be very very careful with my magic. Well I wasn't very very careful."

"So? Your mom gave you a couple of strong magics. That's fine with us." Jen said

"You don't get it don't you?"

"No. What's wrong?" Camille asked

"My mother didn't give me any magic because she know that forbidden magic is illegal in Balamb Garden."

"Then where did you get that magic?"

"White hat.. I'll tell you."

"Wait!! let's change first." Joy said

"Sure." Louie said and left the facility.

"He seems troubled." Celine said.

* * *

The gang met at the gate of Balamb Town. They went straight to White Hat. A place where they can buy frozen yogurt and it is also where their friendship was made when they first met. They bought a big bucket of frozen yogurt with different toppings that they got to select. They sat down and distributed the spoons.

"So now what?" Elaine asked.

"Louie, you were supposed to tell us something." Jen added.

"Fine here goes. I didn't get the powers from anything nor anyone. I learned how to synthesize it. I can do magic without a GF."

"So 'lemme get this straight you're a sorceress?" Celine questioned.

"NO!! I'm a sorcerer. I got it from my mother. I was a sorcerer since birth. I got the black side of my mother's magic."

"Does anyone else know this?"

"My mother, father, the orphanage gang and the second orphanage gang. Even sorceress Edea doesn't know this."

"What'll happen if this comes out."

"I'll be locked in Eshtar forever. Pleease don't tell this to anyone okay?"

"Sure" the rest of the seven said.

"Wait how much power have you got?" Elaine asked.

"Come. I'll show you."

* * *

Louie led them to the beach of Balamb. He lifted his hand up and the water rose. It rose higher as Louie lifted his hand higher. He formed a large wave. He led it to him and the gang playfully letting the water wet the eight of them....

The rest of the day was devoted to fun playing in the beach.


	17. Chapter 16: The Plan

Hey! It's been a while since I last updated. Here's the next chapter. I don't own KFC.

* * *

**Chapter 16: The Plan**

_"Why do people depend on each other?  
__In the end you're on your own. I'm fine by myself now.  
I have all the skills I need to survive. I'm not a child anymore...  
That's a lie. I don't know anything. I'm confused.  
I don't want to depend on anyone. How can I do that?  
Someone tell me... Someone? So I'll end up depending on others after all... "_

_--Squall Leonhart, Final Fantasy VIII, Square Enix_

Rinoa Heartilly was standing next to a train window, staring at the speeding landscape of the dried land of Centra. She and Squall Leonhart wasn't talking to each other sincce their fight the last night. The train was nearing the Centra Station in the center of the newly built city. Rinoa got ready to leave the train as it started to deccelerate. Squall Leonhart never bothered opening the doors to the main train. He spent the long hours of travel how he used to want it, alone. After a few minutes, the train stopped and the doors slowly opened. Squall and Rinoa walked out of the train. The hot and damp air was unfamiliar for the married couple. They walked out of the train station and watched the train go on to its next station. Both then walked down the main road to the exit of the simlple newly built city.

The Ragnarok was parked right next to the big long road leading to the orphanage.

"Rin!" Squall said. Rinoa turned around and saw Squall walking up the stairs of the Ragnarok. Squall turned his head as he realized that Rinoa wasn't following him.

"Come on! It's a pretty long walk you know." Squall said and then flashed a dreamy smile. The same smile he showed Rinoa at the balcony in the party at the Quad right after they defeat Ultimecia. Rinoa smiled back and headed to the familiar red structure that would take them to the orphanage in less than a minute.

"You know Squall, we should have just walked." Rinoa joked before stepping inside.

"Why?" Squall asked.

"It would be a waste of fuel and it's not easy to buy fuel for this thing."

"We'll be there in a minute Rin. Besides I'd rather buy a lot of expensive Ragnarok fuel than walk a long hot and damp road. It may be cool for you but I'm wearing leather."Squall said as he started the engines and got the Ragnarok off the air.

Zell Dincht opened the door of the orphanage. He then went out and sat at the stairs. He suddenly felt a fast swift off hot and damp air from a familiar red spaceship. The Ragnarok was landing in front of the old concrete structure that was the old orphanage. Zell Dincht rushed outside and welcomed the couple proceeding out from the Ragnarok. The three went inside the orphanage and was surprised by the sudden changed of temperature caused by the newly centralized lving room of the old gray structure.

"There wasn't an aircon when we were kids right?" Squall half-joked since it may be possible because they didn't remember all the details of the orphanage because of the memory loss caused by the GFs

"Of course not silly." Irvine, who was the one who clearly remembers everything, answered. "Besides, I think it haven't been inventedd yet then."

"Yeah, and if it was, it mustn't have been very popular due to the sorceress war." Quistis added.

"We are not here to talk about airconditioners. We've got a more serious problem. By the way Squall and Rinoa, want some drinks?" Edea suddenly appeared from the kitchen

"I'll have--" Rinoa was interruptedd by Squall

"Coffee, no cream, two sugars. Am I right Rin?"

"Okay. I'll go get it." Edea said

* * *

Joy Hummingway sat quietly as the group of 8 waited for their food in one big table of a Kentucky Fried Chicken branch on a newly built building in the Balamb Town known as The Annex. A very disturbing thought was stopping Joy from talking with her groupmates. Celine Branford decided to buy a bucket of chicken containing ten pieces for the whole group to minimize confusion in ordering food.

"Hey Celine. This is a treat right?" Louie joked.

"No way! You're paying for this." Celine answered.

"Hey guys! After this would you like to have our picture taken in a studio?" Elaine suggested.

"I would really want to. After the Field Exam, I'm gonna have to transfer to G-Garden since SeeDs are now also trained there. My dad said that GFs aren't gonna be good for my brain." Joy said

"Awww. We're all gonna miss you girl." Jazz replied.

* * *

"Here's your coffee." Edea said as she walked carefully to the coffee table in her living room while carrying a tray with two cups of competely identical coffee.

"What's the matter Matron?" Squall asked.

"Ultimecia's already born." Edea said.

"What? I don't understand."

"Ultimecia was born 14 years ago. Dr. Odine said so."

"14 years ago? Louie was born fourteen years ago." Rinoa worriedly said.

"Oh you've got nothing to worry about Rinoa. First of all, Louie's a boy and he ain't a sorceress."

"Still, you can't stop being paraoid about it. I mean nobody saw Ultimecia's genitals when we faught her." Squall added.

"Come on Squall! She's got big boobs dude." Zell joked.

"Stop it Zell." Edea shouted.

"You can't stop being paranoid 'cause Louie's the only fourteen year old sorcerer I know." Squall said

"What? Louie's a sorcerer?!" Edea angrily asked.

"Yes Matron."

"How did this happen?"

"Rinoa gave her powers while giving birth."

"What specifc power?"

"Black magic."

"What?" Edea asked, confused.

"Since my sorceress power was pure magic, it can be divided into two, black and white. I gave him the black part." Rinoa replied.

"Does he have... wings?"

"Yes... Black...Feathers"

"That's exactly the wings of Ultimecia. You know what? Maybe--" Irvine was interrupted.

"My son ain't gay Irvine!!" Squall shouted.

"I'm just sayin'" Irvine replied.

"That's enough Irvine!!! This is the plan. Rinoa you will not put yourself in danger that much because you may trigger an accidental passing of power. We can't risk another female sorceress. I didn't even know males could be a sorceress... I mean sorcerer."

"You're gonna stop Ultimecia matron? You'll just make a paradox." Quistis said.

"No.. I plan to change Ultimecia."

"Change ultimecia?"

"The future is not consistent yet. The Ultimecia we know today may be changed to another possible ultiimecia in the future."

"You mean. It's all up to me if Ultimecia will exist in our sons' generation?" Rinoa asked.

"Yes... Yes you are." Edea said.

* * *

The picture the gang of 8 took before Joy left is on this link: deviantart . com/art/darkdestiny23-163229043.. It helps in imagining the new chars. The clothes they wear are their clothes in the last two chapters except for Louie. Read the Artist's Comment. Thanks. Special thanks to Ayla27 and WindArcher whoever you guys are.. winks;).. Also to Brettt-xoxo, crepusculo4ever, BlackxValentine, chickabo and Yunagirlamy. Love y'all. :)


	18. Chapter 17: Preparation

How are you guys? I haven't uploaded any chapter for a while. It's 'coz my browser won't connect to the internet 'til now. Anyway, here's the next chapter, enjoy.

* * *

**Chapter 17: Preparation**

_"This is it. This is your story._

_ It all begins here..."_

_-Auron, Final Fantasy X, Square Enix  
_

Joy Hummingway woke up to the sound of her alarm clock. It was a Saturday. It was also the day the groups are going to find out what they're in for. The instructors posted the GFs and the details including some tips on beating it for each of the groups. It was also posted on their website. Joy hurriedly went straight to the girls' shower room. It was already 9 am, the busiest time of the said room. Luckily, Joy was able to finish within thirty minutes. She went back to her room and grabbed her knives and played with them a bit before closing the lights and locking the door. She knows where her group would always hang out. After every training, they would either be in Balamb Town or in Celine's dorm. Celine's dorm is no different from the other dorms but the group finds it a good place to relax. Joy reached the very familiar dorm door and knocked three times. She then opened it and the whole group was there playing a game called "Killers".

"Hey guys. May I join in?" Joy asked

"Sure." Celine said.

"What time are we going to see the details?" Louie asked

"This noon maybe. Then after that we'll go out of the garden preparing for the exam. We don't have time for the whole week 'coz we have classes" Jazz answered

"When are we gonna take it?"

"I dunno. The sooner the better right?"

"When is your flight Joy?" Jen asked.

"Next Saturday."

The group stayed in the same dorm room for hours until they all feel their stomachs grumbling. They then went out and decided to meet in Celine's dorm after preparing. They're going to have their lunch and then prepare for the field exam. After a while, Louie Leonhart was already finished preparing for their lunch and was already walking to the meeting place. He wore a white polo shirt with stripes made up of black skulls, black jeans and brown shoes. He wore no glasses and had his bangs up making it unnoticeable since it was already blocking his eyes. He knocked twice on the door.

"Hey Celine are you done?" he said.

"No! Don't enter. It's not locked." she replied.

"Fine. Tell me when you're done okay?"

"Sure."

_"Why do boys spend so little time in picking what to wear?" _Celine asked to herself. A few minutes later, the rest of the gang arrived. They all met in the halls even before meeting at the door. The group of six found Louie Leonhart leaning on the door and head down. "Elaine approached him and noticed him sleeping. Just then, the door opened pushing the sleeping figure out of his dream.

"What took you so long?" Louie asked the girls.

"We're girls.. duuuh. No bangs today?" Celine joked. The group went straight to the Quad to see the posted details about their GF. Joy brought out a piece of paper and copied every detail about the creature. Then, they ran out and went straight for the front gate. They followed the road and killed every bite bug on their way until they reached the town of Balamb.

The town was very crowded in a hot Saturday. The group hurried towards the door of the centralized mall. They went straight to where they usually go to lunch, KFC. They had their lunch and then talked a little while before going out of the room and going to the studio again to take another set of pics. Then they went to a weapon shop to upgrade their weapons.

"Hey this looks way cool!" Celine said as she picked up a handgun with a golden slide, a hammer made out of diamond and the rest of the gun was white. Celine brought out the magazine and it was made of silver. It costs 15,000 gil. "I'm gonna go buy two of this."

"You sure brought a lot of money." Louie replied.

"She always does." Elaine added. Celine then brought the gun to the counter and asked for another gun of the same kind. She then bought two of it and a box of light bullets that would hit an enemy in the shortest of time. All in all, she spent 31,000 gil.

Louie then brought out his golden gunblade and asked the guy in the counter to sharpen it.

"When will this be finished?" he asked.

"In about an hour."

"Great. How much?"

"That would be 500 gil."

"Here you go." Louie gave the money.

* * *

A black feather slowly falls down the grassy plains of the island closest to hell as it was caught by a very familiar woman. The woman had on a red gown with black feathers surrounding her neck. She had long white hair and wore no footwear. Very familiar markings marked her face as she stood beside a creature standing tall with white wings, black skin and the mane, face and tail of a lion.

"It's time my dear Griever. It's time for my revenge. Let my vengeful soul fuel me with the desire to ruin the lives of those who tried to ruin mine. I am back for good. SeeDs will perish." the woman said. Her lion roared a loud roar as she transformed to a cloud of purple. The creature vanished too and left a black feather which was caught by the wind and brought u to the sky. The sky then grew dark all over the world as it started to rain.


	19. Chapter 18:Jinx

I haven't uploaded anything for a long time. My browser has gone crazy again. Anyway, here's the Field Exam where they need to get a GF of some sorts. I hope you'll enjoy this chapter. Thanks for reading.

* * *

**Chapter 18: Jinx**

_"All those who live must some day die.  
It is our fate"_

_-Minwu, Final Fantasy II, Square Enix_

"So it's agreed. We'll take the exam tomorrow at 1300. We'll meet at the entrance of the Fire Cavern. Remember to equip your GFs. The GF we're going to face is an ice elemental so let's meet at 1100 to stock up on fires but remember to take your lunch first. Hey Louie couldn't you pass your unlimited fires to us?" Jazz said

"I would if I could. Firstly, I don't know how to give some magic and I wouldn't risk passing it to you guys because I may accidentally cast it. Lastly, it would expose me since not only my father would be scoring us. There will be cameras all over the place. The cameras around the place differentiates sorcery from... from your magic." Louie replied.

"So we'll still stock up on fires. Sleep early tonight ok?" Jazz added.

The group walked and talked until they reach the Balamb Garden gates.

"Hey guys. I'm gonna go back to Balamb Town. I'm gonna sleep at my house tonight." Louie said.

"Why did you come here to the Garden with us? We were just in town." Celine asked

"Because I thought that there would be battles."

"Why the heck would you ask for battles?"

"I was itching for a battle. I'd like to try my newly sharpened gunblade."

"In that case, I hope you face fifteen T-Rexaurs when you go back!"

"That's it! You want your face frozen?"

"Alright guys. That's enough. Go on Louie. We'll see you tomorrow. " Elaine stopped the two from killing each other.

Louie then turned his back and went to follow the road back to his hometown. He was halfway down the road to the Town of Balamb when he heard a loud roar from the forest nearby. He looked at the direction of the sound and saw birds flying out of the forest. A giant creature then ran out of the forest with all its mighty pride as it gave out another loud roar from its mouth. It was a big red T-Rexaur.

"No way." Louie whispered as he turned around to run towards the gate of Balamb Town but then he saw another T-Rexaur in that direction. He then heard another loud roar as three more monsters of the same kind from a forest on the other side and another three more dinos busted out of the forest were the first two T-Rexaurs came from.

"Shit! Please don't add up to fifteen." Louie shouted as he brought out his cellphone to call for help.

Carlos Almasy answered immediately because he knew that Louie wouldn't call if it isn't an emergency.

_"What is it?" _Carlos said.

_"Dude. I need complete backup immediately." _Louie replied.

_"Sure. I'll call the guys. Where are you?"_

_"You can't miss me. I'm by the road surrounded by eight T-Rexaurs"_

_"We'll be on our way."_

_"Hurry!"_

Louie then finished the call. He then cast a Blizzaga on one of the T-Rexaurs pushing it backward but seemingly not harming it.

After a few minutes of defending himself, Louie heard a familiar voice calling his name.

"Finally! I thought you guys wouldn't arrive." Louie said.

"Enough chit chat Louie, assume position." Carlos replied.

"How can I assume position if I'm surrounded by these stupid creatures?" Just then, the T- Rexaurs roared in unison.

"Louie, don't say that! They know that you insulted them." John said. Louie then cast a big Blizzaga spell and used it to push the T-Rexaurs a little and make road for him to follow. Louie was able to follow the ice road before the monsters could destroy it.

The five boys spread out to surround the eight gigantic creatures. Louie froze two T- Rexaurs that was about to attack him using a large hill made out of ice while John jumped a big jump and reached the tail of another monster. He balanced himself and quickly ran to the head of the creature, after which he jumped an even bigger jump and did a powerful version of Zell Dincht's Meteor Barret which hits the monster and instantly kills it. Meanwhile, Carlos brought out two of his whips from his whip collection and swung both to surround the neck of a T-Rexaur facing its back against him. He pressed a button that activates the sharp blades at the end of the whips which attaches the whip to the neck. He then pulls it hard strangling the T-Rexaur and killing it. "Carlos behind you!" Louie shouted. Carlos turns around and saw the heavy pile of brainless poo rushing towards him. He accurately targets the eyes of the dinosaur blinding it wit the sharp spikes at the end of his long whips. He then let go of the whips and grabbed his gunblade and swings it towards the monster. The blade struck the monster's heart, which ended its life. While there was chaos on the other side, Nick easily ended the life of one of the monsters by shooting an Ultima bullet to its heart and Chris uses The End on another to easily kill the beast.

Now only one stands against them. The last one roared a huge roar trembling its enemies and breaking the ice that froze his little buddies. The roar was heard by seven more T-Rexaurs that came from another forest. Louie then sensed panic among his friends so he brought out his huge wings. His wings were of the darkest of black and carries huge black feathers. Nick and Chris looks up to see a full moon. Their eyes suddenly changed in color. John also prepared for a huge combined attack by charging up his fist which started to gain blue aura as he does so. Carlos also started charging for a powerful Degenerator. Nick started the summoning process for the Shadow Dragon while Chris started casting a Wall all around them. The invisible Wall prevented the T-Rexaurs from attacking the group. Louie built up a big ball of Flare. As they faced opposite directions, targeting each of the ten T-Rexaurs that was surrounding them, a huge dragon appeared from the moon and charged a big Lunar Flare. The wall completely disappeared and with its disappearance came a hue wave of T-Rexaurs.

The Dragon packed up all of its power on the blast he was about to make and the T-Rexaurs were as near to the children as possible. The blast of the combined powers of the orphanage gang instantly killed the remaining T-Rexaurs. The blast sent a minor shockwave which spread to town and to the Garden. The five children sat themselves down, exhausted from the battle. Just as they were about to stand up, Louie realized something; "We fought fifteen T-Rexaurs didn't we?"


	20. Chapter 19: A Night of Mystery

Hey guys! It's been a while since I last updated and I'm very sorry for that. It's also been awhile since I last received a review from you guys. Anyway. here's the next chapter. Hope you guys will enjoy! I would like to inform you that starting Chapter 21, I won't be using quotes from the past final fantasies as often as i used to. I'm running out of them although I'll still toss in a few within and before some chapters.

* * *

**Chapter 19: A Night of Mystery  
**

_"I've thought of a wonderful present for you... _  
_Shall I send you some despair?"_

_-Sephiroth, Final Fantasy VII, Square Enix_

Louie Leonhart was walking towards the elevator to his first class of the day. He wasn't that excited for the upcoming Field Exam_. _Suddenly, as he was getting closer to the stairs, Louie felt an extreme pain in his head. The pain was so excruciating that he couldn't help but kneel down and shout out a long cry of pain. He started to weep as the pain went from extreme to impossibly excruciating_. _He felt as if his head was about to explode as his vision was beginning to blur from the pain and the tears. After a few seconds of pain which seemed like hours, Jazz Adelbert, Louie's group mate in the Field Exam and the leader of their group came to his aid. She tried to lift Louie from his kneeling position, the pain grew radically causing Louie to pull back down. As another burst of painful scream came out of Louie's mouth and another drop of painful tears poured from Louie's eyes, a black feather fell from the sky right above Louie. The light object landed on Louie's back which apparently was the cause of an increase in the amount of pain forcing out another painful scream from the kneeling body of the poor sorcerer boy.

_Move towards me._

_I'll relieve you of the severe pain and suffering._

_Take my hand... child...  
_

Suddenly, Louie's eyes began to glow a bright yellow light. He then stood up, as if feelling no pain at all, spread his big black feather wings and started to walk_._ An eerie red aura surrounded Louie's faltering figure. His big black feather wings were not up like he would usually wear it. It was lying down on the floor and followed Louie as he advanced. His eyes were of a yellow color as opposed to its usual gloomy blue. Jazz Adelbert ran towards the weird-loking sorcerer but he was covered by an invisible force field that would not permit anyone to enter it_. _Jazz was thrown away by the force. Elaine Faragon and Celine Branford, who were walking to their next class, saw the incident_._ The former went to Jazz's aid while the latter went to try to stop the unfathomable wrath of Louie Leonhart. Celine ran to where Louie was proceeding. She dashed in front of Louie and tried to sto him. It wouldn't work. It seems that Louie Leonhart, the SeeD-in-training sorcerer son of Balamb Garden's Commander Squall Leonhart and the raven-haired sorceress known all over the world, Rinoa Heartilly-Leonhart_, _has been depraved of his soul. Louie started to cast a spell directed to his crying friend in front of him. As he released a spell, a loud scream was heard.

Louie then woke up from a dream that was extremely terrifying. He stood up and felt cold sweat cover all of his body. He decided to go down to the kitchen and drink a refreshing glass of cold water. As he walked down the stairs, he wore a blank white shirt over his pale shirtless body. He came to the kitchen after a while. He reached for a glass and grabbed the handle of their refrigerator. He got a hold on a cold glass pitcher filled with ice-cold water. He tried hard not to think about his recent dream but the ore he resists, the more his mind would wonder so he decided to go to Balamb beach, a place he always goes to whenever he wants to be alone in a peaceful environment. At night, Fastitocalons would be sleeping so they would not be attacking anyone who comes by.

He grabbed the keys to their hhouse and went out to the frontyard. He opened the gates and asked the guards to open it when he comes back. He then walked the town of Balamb. It was extremely quiet during nighttime in which he wasn't very used to but felt that he preffered it that way. After a couple of mnutes, he reached the Balamb beach. The waves made a sound that refreshed the mind and relaxed the soul. Louie sat on the sand and stared out in the open. He thought about his recent dream. Was it a sign of an impending disaster? Does it imply that people would be getting to know about his abilities sooner than he expected? Did it mean the death of one of his friends? He pondered about these questions as he stared out at the seemingly endless ocean. He then stood up and started to leave when he saw a brown haired girl with slightly orange complexion walk towards the beach. As the girl noticed that there was someone at the beach, she walked faster, wondering if she knew the person in the beach.

"Hi" Louie greeted although it wasn't as cheerful as any other greeting. In fact, it was almost as cold as ice, a trait he got from his father.

"Hello. What were you doing?" Celine asked in a manner that was most pleasant to the ear of anyone who would listen to it.

"I was just leaving."

"No. I mean before you were just leaving."

"I was thinking."

"About what?"

"Stuff."

"What Stuff?"

"...Stuff..."

"Spill"

"No. What're you doing here anyway?"

"I couldn't sleep. I had a bad dream."

"What dream?" Louie asked, more curious than caring.

"Not telling."

"Fine." Louie said and faced the waves of the beach. He closed his eyes for a small while and walked towards the waves. He then lifted his arm and an amount of water followed. A few more minutes of water sorcery followed. Louie finished his product after a few more minutes. It was an islet only made up of stairs and a viewing platform at the top made completely from ice. He was strting to climb it when he was disturbed by the girl at his back.

"Hey!" Celine said.

"What?"

"Can I come?"

"No"

"Please."

"Fine." Louie said as he reached out a hand and said. "It's a little slippery. Hold on."

"I think I can take care of myself."

"...Whatever." he replied etting go of the hand he just touched. Celine climbed up the stairs slowly while Louie climbed as if he wasn't feeling a frictionless surface.

"How do you manage to climb u that fast?" Celine asked.

"Sorcery." he sad as the girl finally made it to the less slippery top.

"Is it great?" Celine asked

"What is great?"

"Being a sorcerer?"

"Not at all. Sure you can control the elements and all but what's the pont in hiding what you really are from the people you know and love? I never wanted to be a sorcerer from the beginning. It doesn't feel good when you know that you are not like your peers. There will always be a feeling of dread, loneliness and misery even if you're with your friends." Louie said, holding back a tear from his gloomy blue eyes.

"I'm sorry."

"What's being normal like?"

"I love it. I dont want to be a sorceress."


	21. Chapter 20: After the Field Exam

This next chapter is the aftermath of the field exam so it's gonna be pretty light. This will tell of the events proceeding the field exam and what happened a couple of months after the said aftermath. This will also tell about happenings a week before the SeeD exam. Sorry I will be posting the events of the field exam on a later flashback chapter. Anyway, this chapter's gonna have Squall and the gang and Louie and his gang so it's gonna be pretty long.

* * *

**Chapter 20: After The Field Exam  
**_*The first parts of this chapter is told from Louie Leonhart's point of view._ _Happy Reading!_

_"__In the end, it boils down to two simple choices.  
Either you do or you don't.  
You'd think with all the problems in this world,  
there'd be more answers.  
It's not fair... but that's the way things are.  
The choice is yours."_

_-Zidane Tribal, Final Fantasy IX, Square Enix

* * *

_

_**Start of Louie Leonhart's POV**

* * *

_

It was the day after the field exam. It was just another boring school day for most of the students. It would also usually be another boring school day for me, but it wasn't. It will not ever be a normal school day for me, for any of my peers in the field exam. If you're thinking that the reason behind all this is because we did not capture the GF, you're wrong. In fact, the GF was fairly easy to catch. It actually took us just 10 minutes to do so. What was in store for us on the way back was the reason behind all of this confusion.

The cameras were off, since after getting the GF, it automatically shuts down, so we were the only witnesses to what happened. What happened seems impossible and it was definitely unexplainable, especially by us, simple-minded teens who wasn't ready for anything like that. I'm not gonna tell you what happened. It was too painful to recall. By the end of the day, I knew that I will be alone again, that it would be as if we did not know each other, but in the back of my mind, I know that everything will be fine because I don't care much about the memories we make. What's important is the knowledge that the people you love is safe and even if they would never speak to you again, it wouldn't matter, because you know that there is always something between friends that, even if they can't talk to you and you can't talk back, you and your peers will always be connected in a way that only you and your friends can understand.

* * *

I'm pretty sure that what I told you earlier was a bit confusing so I'm jut gonna tell you what happened to all of us months after the dreaded Field Exam. Celine Branford, the girl with a brown hair and a slightly orange complexion, became a certified level 5 sharpshooter and is working her way up to level 6 with instructor Irvine Kinneas, along with other students who are on the same level as she is. She can easily shoot a speeding bullet while in the air. Of course, this much accomplishment wouldn't happen without an inspiration. Every afternoon, after all her classes, a black haired boy with a fair complexion and a height a couple of inches smaller than hers, would always wait for her in the secret area of the training center...so I was told. It is believed that the black haired boy with a fair complexion and a height a couple of inches smaller than hers is Celine's boyfriend although no words come out of both of their mouths. She also found a new girl friend. Her name was Abbie, a student more inclined to the darker side of life but still had the time to laugh and share her feelings with her friends. She was with Celine for almost all their classes and they enjoy each others' company.

Elaine Faragon, now a level 5 nunchack handler and a considerable talent in the field of heavy weaponry, still hangs with the same old gang. They were still as tight as we used to. She was also awarded for having the tamest GF anyone can get. With the award, she was given the privelage to unjunction her GF while on campus and to junction in back only when she needs it. The privelage was given to her for one month. A privelage she would consider a burden and a blessing, much like how I consider my sorcery. She still had the same long wavy black hair which she swear she never combs, her plastic purple glasses and her slighlyy rusty morning star. She still wears the loose fitted shirt awkwardly paired with a long pair of blue skinny denim jeans and orange flip-flops. She also found a new friend in the form of a girl named Daniella, a short girl with short brown hair, a pair of small eyes and a popular boyfriend. Elaine and Celine was still the best of friends. Daniella would also hang out with Jen Highwind. The latter would still eat lunch at 2pm like she used to.

Anne Rigiel, was now a level 3 hand projectile expert and has some skills for some light projectile weapons. She hung out with a group of people who seem to not mind her loud mouth. One of them was an extremely vain girl who keeps posting the same poses on the same background on the same photo blog. Another one was the best friend of Celine's alleged boyfriend. She hates Celine's guts and cruelly stabs her in the back - not literally though. Joy Hummingway already left for Galbadia the weekend after the field exam. All of them was present on the airport to say goodbye. It was a very sad moment for all of us. Her life is very peaceful now. She lives in a condominium in Deling City and attends the Galbadia Garden. They would always have the chance to talk to her when they got together. They would laugh and tell about what had happened while Joy was gone. They would talk about Joy's cute guy classmates too but I haven't seen them yet. They would talk about Celine's controversial love story and Elaine's misunderstanding parents.

Camille Garamode now played for the Balamb Garden volleyball team. The volleyball is used for some missions, 'coz like my dad said, 'approach your target inconspicuously at a dance party... There may be missions requiring this sort of subterfuge. It's expected of SeeD to know various skills.' Her old friends, John, the gay guy who also likes volleyball and Julia, the loud mouth would aways hang out with her when she's not with the gang. Jazz Adelbert was the busiest of them all. She woud approach each of them to mingle a little but then return to the library to do some of her researches. Elaine would always try to stop her but any of those efforts would not work. She would still continue her walk down the long road towards the library.

I would always go from class to class alone. My dorm would always be a room graced with a gloomy ambiance that even the happiest of all the students who enter here would leave feeling all of their misery hooked on their backs. Through the months, a lot has happened and nothing has changed since then. This is a good start, where everything is stable. All I'm worried about is when this stability would last.

* * *

_**End of Louie Leonhart's POV**

* * *

_

"I don't know why we're having this argument again Rinoa! There is no chance that I would let my son join a revolution against the whole Galbadian force!" Squall shouted.

"You're gonna put him in danger anyway Squall! Don't you get that in any mission, on any place you send OUR son to, he'll always be in danger." Rinoa angrily replied.

"Rinoa, a revolution is different! Every person who goes there is prepared to give up his life for the sake of one common goal! Rinoa this is not about you! This is about our son!"

"So here I am. I'm always the selfish one, the stupid, ignorant, fool! Squall think! THINK FOR HYNEDAMN'S SAKE THINK SQUALL! Every little attempt to stop you from letting our son attend the garden was a failure. I was not the only one who put him in danger first Squall. You did!"

"What does being in garden and being a SeeD have to do with being in fucking danger Rinoa?"

"HE'S A SORCERESS SQUALL! A SORCERESS! If the world finds out that he is a sorceress, they're gonna kill him!"

"I sent him to the garden because I wanted him to become a SeeD like me Rinoa! It has always been his dream!"

"HIS dream? HIS dream Squall? Isn't it YOUR dream for him?" Rinoa finally said and walked away. It was a dark and rainy night in the Leonhart residence. Rinoa walked up to their room while Squall walked towards the kitchen.


	22. Chapter 21: Uncovering the Field Exam

Hey guys! I just noticed that the last two chapters were full of spelling mistakes. I'm so sorry. I F***in hate this keyboard. Anyway, I've also noticed that Rinoa repeatedly said sorceress in the last paragraph on the last chap. That's supposed to be sorcerer okay? 'coz Louie ain't gay 'ya hear? Kidding aside, here's the next chapter, enjoy.

* * *

**Chapter 21: Uncovering the Field Exam  
**

_"Open your eyes  
Like I opened mine.  
It's only the real world"_

_-Careful performed by Paramore_

Cid Kramer was preparing for the 24-hour trip from Centra to Balamb. He was needed there for he had to sign some papers regarding the upcoming SeeD Exam. Usually, this was the only job he had to do because Squall had taken care of it all. This time though, he felt that he would need to make a very complex decision_. _His train was arriving soon. He had already finished packing a suitcase of his clothes and had already started worrying about the feeling of impending trouble when Edea Kramer knocked on the door.

"It's open" Cid said, clearing his brain of his cumbersome thoughts. Edea Kramer then entered the room that has long been theirs.

"I decided to join your trip." Edea greeted.

"Why?"

"I have to tell something to Squall... and to you."

"Couldn't you just tell it to me now?"

"Cid, you wouldn't understand the situation right now. Just let me come to the trip with you to figure this out."

"Do I have a choice? You pack your bags, I'll make coffee."

"Okay"

Cid Kramer then went out of the room disturbed by the stress that is evident in his wife's face. He went straight to the kitchen to make two cups of coffee. Edea Kramer started packing her clothes when she felt the need to open the windows of their small room. As she opened the window that overlooked the wide flower fields at the back of the orphanage, a gentle breeze entered accompanied with a few rose petals. She went to catch one and held it tight in her fist. She opened her fist a few moments later and was surprised at what she saw. She turned the rose petal into a black feather which was not what she intended. Appalled by the sudden incident, she quickly let go of the feather which slowly turned white as it went back to the waiting flower fields and rose up to the sky. Cid Kramer was having a sip of coffee when a strong breeze from the memory-filled flower fields opened the windows and brought pink rose petals along with it into the old orphanage. The clouds suddenly darkened as more petals made its way into the small kitchen due to the increase in strength of the breeze from the field. Rain started to fall from the gloomy skies and small flashes of lightning begun to appear from behind the gray clouds. Thunder booms and light breezes turned to strong winds as Cid Kramer quickly shuts the wind-striken windows to prevent water from entering the house. He ran to the room and called for his wife who was just waiting for him, not knowing whether to tell him or not about the weird feather. Edea quickly stood up and grabbed a jacket and an umbrella. Bringing their suitcases with them, they rushed to the door an locked it. They opened the umbrella and passed through the wet pathway to the soggy desert leading to the city of Cenra where they'll take a 24-hour train trip to Balamb.

* * *

Louie Leonhart was laying down in his bed in his dark room. He couldn't sleep at all. He looked at his digital clock and he saw that it was only 10:00 pm. He grabbed his jacket and gunblade and went down and out of his house. He slowly walked towards the gates of the town, out of it and traversed towards the beach. He sat down on the white sand and stared at the continuously expanding wonders of the cosmos. The bright stars gave him the hope of finding new friends again or being acquaintances with his first group of friends. The yellow full moon gave him the dread that it is possible that he won't be able to talk to anyone anymore due to something he wasn't responsible for. He saw a white feather gleaming with its radiance slowly making its way towards his seated figure. The feather slowly approached the young sorcerer when it was caught by another. Louie saw the hand that grabbed the feather. It wore white designer gloves embroidered with four expensive swarovski crystals that was fashionably placed on each of the four joints connecting four of her fingers and reflected the yellow moonlight with the brilliance of a thousand stars. Louie looked towards her pocket and saw a white gun with a golden slide and a hammer made out of diamond. He then realized who the 'feather stealer' was. It was Celine Branford. He leaned back and saw Elaine Faragon accompanying her best friend.

"Hey" Celine said. "Here's your feather. I saw you reaching out to it before I caught it."

Louie reached for the feathr and grabbed it. He looked towards the stars and opened his hand. The feather was turned into a bright red rose petal that flew away wth a light breeze brought by the sea.

"That was amazing!" Celine excalimed in amusement.

"Are you talking to me?"

"Why do you make it sound like it was us who made your life miserable?"

"Was it not you?"

"You brought this on yourself Louie. We had nothing to do with it"

"Oh I'm terribly sorry! Did you expect me to be a silly bitch and try to make a conversation with the people whom I have accidentally hurt that day?" Louie shouted making him stand up from his comfortable seat in the white sand of the beautiful Auculd Plains.

"You call that an accident Louie? You wounded my knee! You almost killed Elaine! You almost smashed Joy to pieces!"

"FINE! I'm sorry. Sorry for wounding you, sorry for almost killing your best friend and sorry for almost smashing Joy to pieces. I just can't remember myself doing these things. What happened?"

"You honestly can't remember? It's still clear in my mind up to today." Elaine butted in.

"We had just finished with the Exam and was walking back towards the exit when you suddenly stopped. You said that your head hurts really bad. I told you...

* * *

FLASHBACK

* * *

"We'll get some aspirin when we get back. Come on." Celine said.

"It... hurts... sooooo... BAAAAD." Louie exclaimed

The boy sorcerer knelt down and screamed in horrible pain. Suddenly, Louie's eyes began to glow a bright yellow light. He then stood up, as if feeling no pain at all, spread his big black feather wings and started to walk_._ An eerie red aura surrounded Louie's faltering figure. His big black feather wings were not up like he would usually wear it. It was lying down on the floor and followed Louie as he advanced. His eyes were of a yellow color as opposed to its usual gloomy blue. Jazz Adelbert ran towards the weird-looking sorcerer but he was covered by an invisible force field that would not permit anyone to enter it_. _Jazz was pushed away by the force. He grabbed his gunblade and rushed towards Celine. The latter quickly grabbed her gun and aimed it at Louie. She was hesitant to shoot at first but she got over it when she sw the golden shine of the gunblade speeding towards her. Her bullet shot through the blade and was cut in half by it. As Louie got eerily loser to her, he got ready to attack the poor girl. Luckily, Celine was able to move fast enough to get out of the way and only managed to have a single wound in her knee.

He changed his gaze to Elaine and started casting a very strong spell on her. HE lifted his hand as blue light came out of it. It surrounded Elaine and lifted her up. She almost fell unconscious but a throw of a knife from Joy hit the weird figure in the shoulder lightly causing him to stir and let go of Elaine. He then controled the ground and make it shake as if it was a major earthquake that was occuring. Rocks fell from directly above Joy Hummingway. Luckily, she was able toget away from it before it smashed her ito pieces. Celine then shot a bullet at her friend. It shattered right in front of his eerie yellow eyes. It started to change color; from eerie yelow to gloomy blue. His wings returned to his back and...

* * *

END OF FLASHBACK

* * *

...you passed out. After that, we quickly ran out of the cave horrified by what we saw." Celine told the whole story to Louie.

"Yellow eyes, Limp wings. I've just realized what happened that day."

"What?" Elaine asked.

"I got possessed... by Ultimecia"

"WHAT?" Celine exclaimed.

"Ultimecia has yellow eyes and limp wings"

"You also had weird markings and gray hair."

"She also has markings and gray hair."

"If ever you see me like that again, Kill me immediately okay? I was lucky that I was able to get out of her spell. Next time I might not be."

"You're asking us to kill you?"

"ONLY when I become possessed."

"How did this happen?"

"I don't know. I'd have to ask Matron."

"I can't believe she's back. Why here? Why now?"

"Why me?" Louie said in a gloomy and cold voice before he walked back to Balamb.


	23. Chapter 22: Signs

**Chapter 22: Signs**

_"All abstract sciences are nothing  
but the study of relations between signs."_

_-Denis Diderot_

Carlos Almasy was wandering around Balamb Garden in his desperate attempt to escape from boredom. It was a slow afternoon since Louie went to school, Cris and Nick were asleep and John was never to be found as always. The sun was far from setting and the temperature was gradually increasing. Carlos's phone vibrated. He received a text from Louie.

_Matron's gonna come. Meet me at the training center_

Carlos excitedly junctioned his GF and ran on. Just then, the bell rang. The last class ended and a big wave of students came rushing to the exit preventing Carlos from going any further. The approaching crowd of eager students was not the only commodity stopping the young Almasy from easily storming through the hankering rush of excited students. An eerie feeling was dominating Carlos at that time. He stopped walking ultimately distracted by a woman, with only her tattooed face seen through the large crowd, had long white hair, chilling yellow eyes and a bloodcurdling grin. A student passed in front of the terrifying figure. As the unknowing student crossed the hallway walking past the invisible figure, Carlos never caught sight if it anymore. The students slowly lessened in number until none were left but Carlos and a single black feather gently falling from right above the woman who disappeared.

* * *

Celine Branford was choosing what to wear for a date with her boyfriend. It was five days before the end of the semester. Celine gazed through the blinds and saw a big gray cloud slowly moving in. A flash of lightning struck down and a heavy rain started to pour down the lonesome garden. The cold and wet glass that was separating her room from the outside reminded Celine to bring a jacket. She rummaged through her enormous closet while thinking how impossible it is to suddenly rain cats and dogs on a hot day. She finally found something to wear. She wore a hot pink tank top and a pair of white shorts under a gray cotton jacket paired with black boots. She let her brown hair fall smoothly to her back and started applying a thin coat of makeup as she sat down on a chair facing her mirror. She suddenly heard a loud boom of thunder as the lights flickered with it. She brought her gaze back to the mirror and saw a white haired woman staring at her. The image had piercing yellow eyes and strange markings in her face. She smiled a freaky grin at the dumbfounded girl. Celine jumped up in shock as thunder boomed loudly, flickering the lights once more. She dared herself to gaze through the mirror and when she finally had the courage to do so, she saw her own frightened image standing in the corner. She pulled the chair back and saw seated in it a single black feather and Louie's silver griever bracelet.

* * *

"Where the heck is my necklace?" Louie hurriedly said as he frantically searched for his silver Griever necklace. It was a gift that was given to him on his 13th birthday together with his first GF, Carbuncle. His room was already turned upside down by Louie's panicking hands when he finally gave up. He was supposed to meet Edea Kramer in the Balamb train station partly because he was requested by the sorceress but mostly because he knew he's gonna get a free cup of coffee from Matron. He angrily went inside the CR and took a very quick shower. He then wore a slightly tight-fit white shirt partnered with black semi-skinny jeans and red Vans. He fixed his wet bangs to go to the left side of his face using his head. He then wore a stylish white belt and a pair of black fingerless gloves to complete his emo scene since he thought that eyeliner as part of the emo look is completely ridiculous. He was about to open the door to the Balamb Garden dormitory halls when someone knocked on it. He opened it to see a slightly orange-skinned brown haired girl holding a very familiar silver bracelet.

"What the heck is my Griever necklace doing with you?" Louie asked.

"You left it there idiot!" Celine answered.

"But I remember I wore that yesterday."

"Are you accusing me of something?"

"No. Not at all." Louie said as he quickly grabbed the necklace and attached it to himself.

"What the heck happened to you? You look like you've seen a ghost or something." Louie asked.

"Oh my gosh really?" Celine exclaimed as she entered Louie's dorm and went straight to the mirror. She brought out her makeup kit and started applying more.

"You know you should remove those from your face you know." Louie said.

"Why?"

"You look better without them."

"You think so?"

"I don't know. Are you gonna be long? I've gotta go."

"All done. Thanks."

"You're Welcome."

"What's with the emo scene?"

"I dunno. Anyway, why are you getting so worked up abou-. It's your first monthsary today isn't it?"

"Yeah."

"Have a great time okay?"

"Sure." Celine finally said before turning to the other dorms to proceed to her boyfriend's room. Louie then felt his pendant and he realized it wasn't there. His necklace wasn't there either.

Celine finally found her boyfriend.

"What's with the lion necklace?" her boyfriend asked.

"What?" Celine replied. Confused, she grabbed the thing and was shocked by what she felt. It was Louie's griever necklace. She quickly removed it and put it in her pocket.

"That was Louie's" Celine said

"Leonhart? Did he give that to you?"

"No. This is his. I remember seeing it in my dorm and giving it to him. I even saw him wear it."

"You better return it before it's missed."

"I will." Celine said and smiled. She then walked off hand in hand with her boyfriend towards the elevator.


	24. Chapter 23: Confusion

**Chapter 23: Confusion**

_"The Nightmare returns...  
The Lifestream courses through our world;  
everflowing between the edges of life and death.  
If this cycle is the very truth of life, then history, too,  
will inevitably repeat itself. Go on; bring your Jenova's and your Sephiroths,  
cause trouble till your hearts content, we'll do as life mandates.  
We promise, we won't let you win, we'll stop you."_

_-Rufus Shinra, Final Fantasy VII:Advent Children, Square Enix_

It was still raining when Edea Kramer stepped out of the train. Her husband, Cid Kramer soon followed. The train station seemed pretty empty, as opposed to its usual business with the exchange of tourists, travelers and SeeDs. There in the far corner of the waiting area were five boys sitting quietly on the chairs provided for passengers. Each had a plaything to keep them entertained as they wait. Edea smiled as she remembered how each grew up with her guidance. She remembered how the five would visit her in her home every birthday. They would always bring her these wonderful presents then play in her flower fields with Ellone. Edea was there when Louie had his first gunblade. She still remembered his big smile when he first saw it. It was Squall's first revolver, the one he used to beat Elvoret. Edea was also there when Carlos first had Bahamut. She saw him ride it with maximum ease and impressive skill as the small boy laughed while the winds push strongly against his face. She was also present when Nick and Chris first summoned the Shadow Dragon and when John had his first battle. It was all still clear in her golden memories. A single silent tear escaped from her watery eyes and fell down on one of her cheeks as she can't help thinking how fast time flies by. She witnessed these five boys grow up like they were her grandchildren and she was their grandmother. She thought about a great danger she knew was going to arrive and how these five may not be ready for it. Her plans to go to Balamb was sudden but she was there for one reason. It was to train the five for the upcoming danger they are going to face. She wiped the tear away as she felt her husband slowly approach her. She grabbed her husband' and went on to those who have been waiting for them.

Louie suddenly raised his head and flipped his bangs as he sensed the approaching of two very familiar people. He then turned off his phone which he has been playing with for a whole hour. He stood up and woke up his sleeping company by thumping them strongly in the head. He then went out as his company slowly rose up and stretched. He met with his Matron, gave her a peck in the cheek and grabbed one of her bags.

"So Matron. Why are you here?" Louie asked

"I'm going to tell something to your father." Edea replied.

"Hey Edea! Let's stop at the coffee shop until the rain clears out." Cid butted in.

* * *

Squall Leonhart paced back and forth in his office. He was panicking since he still had no SeeD Field Exam assignments yet. Normally, calls would just come and go until he finds a suitable one but this year, not even a single call was heard in his office. A knock was suddenly heard in his office door. He frantically sat down in his office chair and shouted. "Come in!"

"Hey! You wanted to see us?" It was Zell Dincht with Selphie Tilmitt-Kinneas. One had a cup of coffee an the other had two. The one with two cups brought one cup of coffee to Squall's desk. The Commander immediately had a sip of it.

"That's Hazelnut Caramel Latte, they were all out of mint so yours didn't have any." Selphie said

"Sit down." Squall said after finishing the whole cup in less than a minute.

"You look stressed Squall." Zell said.

"Yeah! You look like you've been run over by an elephant." Selphie added.

"And you finished a whole cup of frickin' hot coffee in less than one minute." Zell added more.

"Shut up! You are so not helping me right now." Squall exclaimed.

"Dude chill-"

"DON'T YOU DUDE CHILL ME ZELL!"

"Alright alright! Sheez! What the heck are you so worked up about anyway?"

"ONE, we still don't have a SeeD Field Exam and the test's supposed to be next next week! TWO, Rinoa and I aren't talking to each other and THREE, I'VE BEEN DRINKING A WHOLE LOT OF COFFEE TODAY THAT I DOUBT THAT I WILL BE ABLE TO SLEEP FOR A MONTH!"

"Why don't you just take Rinoa's advice? It seems pretty logical to me." Selphie answered

"Coz Louie's gonna be in danger."

"Squall you are going to have to put Louie in danger 'coz you wanted him to be a SeeD."

"What you should do now is to call Quis, Seif, Irv and Rin and meet us regarding what to do." Zell agreed

"How? Cid's gonna arrive any minute."

"WOAH! As in Heasmaster Cid?"

"Yeah. He's with the five boys."

"Tell Louie to distract them while we meet for the exam."

"Why do we need to? He will join the meeting with us like he does every semester" Selphie argued.

"Okay. I'll just call them."

_"Instructors Quistis Almasy__ and Irvine Kinneas along with Cadets Seifer Almasy and__...__ Rinoa Leonhart. Please proceed to the bridge right away."_

* * *

Louie Leonhart took a sip from a hot cup of Hazelnut Caramel Latte brought for him by Edea Kramer. He was the only one who asked for coffee out of the five boys. All the others had hot chocolate. The young sorcerer boy looked out the window and saw a familiar brown haired girl walking hand in hand with a not so familiar smaller black haired boy. They were happily sharing a big blue umbrella. He smiled as he happened to gaze upon a silver chain hanging from the pocket of the girl's jeans. He recognized it as his own silver Griever necklace. He wondered for a moment how she got it if she just threw it to him in Balamb. He turned back to see Carlos staring at the dark gray clouds that were slowly disappearing as the rain started to weaken.

"Dude! What the heck are you lookin' at?" Louie asked.

"Nothing." Carlos replied as he slowly turned his face away from the window when he realized he was indeed staring at nothing.

"Louie! Isn't that yours?" Chris said pointing towards a silver necklace with one ring as a pendant on the coffee shop's counter.

"What is?" Louie asked then looked at where his friend was pointing him to. "Shit!" he shouted as he ran to the counter and grabbed the silver necklace right before Edea could tell him about his choice of words. He wore it quickly and went back to their table.

"That was Rinoa's right?" Edea asked.

"Yeah! Mom would murder me if anything should happen to this."

"Where's the other ring?" Cid asked

"Right here!" Louie said as he showed his left hand and in one finger was a ring with a face of a lion and its mane engraved on it. After a few minutes of boring coffee and chocolate drinking, the rain was very calm and a silver lining was starting to appear from behind the light gray clouds that was as dark as the gray road connecting the town and the garden. Nick Kinneas had an idea.

"You guys wanna kill some T-Rexaurs?" Nick suggested.

"Matron, will you come with us?" Carlos asked

"Kiss up" Louie whispered

"Shut up!" Carlos replied.

"I'd love to but I have to tell something important to your parents." Edea reluctantly rejected. A few more minutes passed and the teens are now ready to fight their wits out.

"Are you sure you're not coming, Matron?" Carlos asked.

"Kiss up" Louie whispered again.

"Stop it Louie!" Edea exlaimed "I'm really sorry Carlos. I wish I could" she said.

"Aww. S'okay Matron" Carlos replied. The boys then started to walk out of the coffee shop when a bowed down Squall Leonhart grabbed the door and went right in. He started walking towards a table where a familiar couples were sitting when he looked up to see his son and the sons of his friends walking towards the exit.

"Hey Dad!" Louie said "Can I have some money?" he asked. Money started to become less of a problem and more of a luxury as the last sorceress battle started to fade from the memories of the heroes who have ended it. The heroes started making a lot of money since a lot of clients decided to hire them because of the defeat of the evil sorceress of time. In one year, Squall was able to confidently propose to Rinoa with a 2 carat diamond. Later that year, Irvine proposed to Selphie as Seifer joined the SeeD force. The next year, Seifer married Quistis and Zell married the library girl. Eventually, they were able to build a house of their own, situated on the four corners of the town of Balamb. But was still not a bed of roses for the orphanage gang. The next year, Louie was born. Two months later, they found out he was a sorcerer. Then John Dincht's mother died while giving birth to him. It was the saddest year for the martial artist.

"Here you go" Squall said as he handed a couple of gils to Louie. The boys then went out as Squall sat on the table.

"Matron. I didn't know you'd come too. It's usually only headmaster that comes." Squall said.

"I had to tell you something I just found out. Where are the others?" Edea replied.

"They're on their way. Selphie's taking way too long to dress again." Squall said, flashing his killer smile for a brief moment before standing up. "I'm gonna go get some coffee." he said, walking towards the counter. The door then opened and in came Rinoa, Quistis, Selphie, Seifer, Zell and Irvine. Quistis smiled at Squall for a moment before heading to the table where Edea and Cid were seated. The rest came directly to the counter.

"Matron, Headmaster, you wanna talk in the SeeD room or should we just transfer to a bigger table?" Quistis asked.

"You should go get your coffee first Quistis, we have a lot to talk about. Let's just meet here. Tell Squall to tell the waitress to direct us to a larger table." Cid replied.

The orphanage gang later went to the larger table each with a large cup of coffee.

"First thing's first, Headmaster, this is the SeeD exam mission that we have planned for this semester." Squall said, handing over a piece of paper to Cid.

"A revolution, siding with the timber resistances. This is great." Cid replied.

"Rinoa... thought of it. She promised her fellow resistance member that they'll set Timber free."

"How many students passed the written exams Squall?"

"Exactly one-fourth of the student body sir. That will give us about six groups of six students or maybe nine groups of four students."

"Thirty-six passed then. Great! Have you posted the names of those who passed yet?"

"Not yet. I'll be posting it later. We still don't have a plan though."

"I bet Rinoa can inform us about the current status of Timber. From there, we can start planning on the tasks of each group. Rinoa, start us off."

"Here's the thing. According to the leader of one the resistance groups, Timber is completely guarded by Galbadian soldiers on ALL exits, entrances and train stations. The city itself is loosely guarded and resistance members can actually run free about the city. The Galbadian government does not have a clue about any resistances let alone the revolution." Rinoa explained.

"First, we have to make groupings. Any suggestions?" Cid asked

"I think 6 groups with six students will be the most efficient grouping order." Zell suggested.

"It seems pretty logical isn't it?" Seifer agreed.

"It's settled then, Squall will be the one who will decide on which students to put on one group." Cid said.

"Before I decide, we should discuss the tasks for each group." Squall replied.

"Rinoa, how many resistance groups are there?" Cid asked.

"Four, the Forest Boars, Forest Owls, Forest Fox and Forest Deers. The Boars is a group of men so they rely on strength. Owls are the arms and feet. Fox is the brains and the Deers are the stealthy ones."

"First, we'll worry about Infiltration." Cid said.

"Two groups will go to Timber directly." Cid added.

"Sir, I think they are going to confiscate weapons at Timber's gates." Selphie countered.

"Then we'll use the trains."

"I don't think there's much of a difference sir." Irvine added.

"We'll just give up our weapons. I'll think of a way to get it back. Two other groups will ride the Balamb vessel to Timber."

"But won't they find out that we're from Balamb due to the vessels?" Quistis asked.

"Yes..." Cid answered.

"Let's just land at Dollet, leave the weapons at G-Garden, then we travel by foot to Timber." Quistis suggested.

"Great idea Quistis! The other two groups will then go to G-Garden to hide their weapons there and take the train to Deling. The four groups assigned to Timber will now distribute themselves among the four resistance groups where the plans will be discussed. The groups at Deling will study the revolution place and provide some tactics for the revolution. The first group at Deling will to G-Garden to to retrieve the weapons and the second group will buy G-Army uniforms at Ddeling's black market and diguise themselves as G-Armies traveling to Timber to get the weapons." Cid instructed.

"From then, the first two groups will go to B-Garden. Group A will mobilize the Garden while Group B will gather more resistance members hiding at Balamb Town. Groups A and B will then find other resistance members hiding at FH and Dollet. Groups C and D will gather the resistance groups to the Train Station while Groups E and F distracts the guards. The train will carry four of us and Xu while the Garden will carry two of us and Nida. We will instruct them on the basics of a revolution while traveling slowly to Deling." Squall added.

"Yes Squall. Except we're forgetting one last thing. How will the weapons get inside Deling?" Quistis asked.

"Vice President Caraway will allow us. A few selected people knows about his dark secret. He is the current leader of the Forest Owls. He has discussed the Timber issue with the president and he was almost fired because of it, now he understands her daughter and wants to help with the revolution." Rinoa answered happily.

"If there are no more questions, meeting adjourned! Now what was it that you wanted to tell us Edea?" Cid asked.

"Ultimecia is alive." Edea exclaimed. Everyone was hysterical except for Seifer.

"H..h..how?" Seifer, confused by the question he just asked, upset that he may turn back to his wicked ways and disappointed at Squall for failing to kill her, asked.

"I don't know. She appears every night in the flower fields, when the winds are strong and the petals seem to fly."

"What's she doing?" Zell was finally able to speak.

"She would always... stare at me with her piercing yellow eyes. There was also a boy with her arms wrapped around him and a girl kneeling in front of her but not facing her. The boy always wore your Griever necklace Squall."

"LOUIE!" Rinoa and Squall exclaimed simultaneously.

"Possession by sorcery is not allowed until the one possessed is 15. Don't worry."

"How will we stop her Matron?" Selphie asked, almost tearing up at the fact that all their hard work was a failure.

"I still don't know. There is another thing. An extremely large black skinned, white furred lion will appear from the depths of the deep sea surrounded by a blue lake, destroying the creatures inside the lake. The lion is going to arrive on the first night where its twin can be seen glowing at the sky. Ultimecia would always mention that day when she appears. She would also say that only the woman with the joy of yellow and the passion of red can stop the lion. What could it mean?"

_"What could this all mean? How is Ultimecia alive? And who is the lion who will destroy the lake"_ Squall thought

* * *

"Hey Louie! you're fifteen in a few months, how'll we celebrate it?" Carlos asked while killing another T-Rexaur.

"...Whatever" Louie replied


	25. Chapter 24: The SeeD Exam Pt1: In Denial

OMG! It has been so long since I've last uploaded a story. Sorry guys, it's just that I'm a little busy. I'm in college now! (HOORAY!) So here's the next chapter, enjoy!

* * *

**Chapter 24: The Field Exam Pt 1: In Denial**

_"I came here by my own free will...  
__or so I thought. The truth is I am afraid of myself...  
there is a part of me I don't understand...  
there's something inside of me,  
a person who is not really me."_

_-Cloud Strife, Final Fantasy VII, Square Enix_

Squall Leonhart finished compiling the paper work for the SeeD Exam. It was a stressful day at the office but te work isn't halfway done. The brown-haired commander walked towards the mic to announce the start of the exam. He breathed a heavy sigh as he gently turned on the mic.

_All SeeD Exam participants, instructors and SeeD volunteers, please proceed to the Quad for a briefing of the Infiltration process. The briefing will start at exactly 1700 hours. I repeat, SeeD Exam participants, instructors and SeeD volunteers must proceed to the Quad for mission briefing at exactly 1700 hours._

Squall silently walked out of his office. Waiting for him in the lobby was the gang.

"So... Squall, you ready?" Zell asked

"I.. think so." Squall replied.

* * *

The Quad was starting to get packed when Louie Leonhart entered. He walked calmly towards the stage where the people gathered. There was a big monitor on the stage.

"Hey Louie! You ready?" a girl from behind poked his right shoulder. He looked and found out that it was Celine Branford.

"Uhmm... I think so.. Are you?"

"I'm a little nervous buuut I'm super excited!"

"Why? This is gonna be endangering your life."

"I really don't know."

"Is your boyfriend here? Did he pass?"

"No. It's okay though. If he's here, I might become distracted."

"Attention, Attention everyone, those who will not be participating in the SeeD exam, quietly exit the Quad. The briefing will start in 2 minutes." They turned their heads and saw that it was Squall Leonhart who was speaking in front.

"Your dad's sooo hot, Louie!" Celine exclaimed.

"What the hell? Don't ever say that to me again! That was soo weird." Louie said.

"...awkward"

* * *

Headmaster Cid walked up the stage and grabbed the mic, turned it on and started his speech."

"Everyone here? It's been a while everyone. How's everyone doing? This exam will involve 6 members from Squads A through E... You will be proceeding to a real battlefield. Obviously, the battles are for real. Life and death, victory and defeat, honor and disgrace... Each of these go hand in hand. There's only one way or the other. How 'bout it? Are you still up for it? You will be accompanied by 9 SeeD members. Should you fail, these members shall get the job done. They always do. Well that's one less worry on your mind. The pride of Balamb Garden! The elite mercenary force, SeeD! Learn from them, obey their commands and accomplish the mission. Prove yourself worthy of becoming a member of SeeD. Best of luck."

"Hey! Do you remember that speech? He told the same thing to us when we were taking the exam" Zell whispered to Squall.

"I know. He never changes it. I guess he memorized it already."

"The actual briefing will take place in each of your vessels. Squads A, B, E and F will take the train, C and D will take the vessel. All of you have to pack clothes for this will take one day. Meet at the front gates at exactly 1800 hours. Good Luck everyone!" Quistis explained.

"Hey! On what Squad are you in?" Louie asked Celine as they walked towards the exit.

"E.. you?"

"F. You wanna go grab some dinner before we pack? Wait. I think you and your boyfriend are suposed to have dinner together tonight."

"No. He's in Balamb. Those who did not pass gets to have the day off remember?"

* * *

"I'm just gonna go pack. Let's meet here?" Celine said.

"You go on ahead. I have to do some things."

"Ok"

Louie walked to his dorm and started to pack. After packing, he took a shower. He faced the mirror and saw himself standing half naked with a towel wrapped around his waist. Then, a black feather appeared out of nowhere. It landed on his bed and disappeared. A shocked Louie Leonhart looked at his bed and saw his lost Griever necklace in place of the black feather. He grabbed it, shoved the mysterious phenomenon aside and closed his bag. He then strapped the bag to himself and walked towards the 2F balcony.

"I knew you'd be here." A masculine voice behind him. He looked back.

"Dad?"

"I knew you'd be nervous. I knew you'd relieve your stress by going here and thinking of stuff."

"Why?"

"I'm your father Louie. I know how you react to certain things. And you really like that girl, don't you?"

"...Whatever. I'll just go."

"I invented whatever Louie. It won't work on me"

"What exactly is it that you want Dad?"

"Nothing. I'm just here to tell you that, if you have a problem, you can tell me or your mom, or any of your friends. We'll always be here to help you Louie."

"I'm gonna be late Dad. I'll go." Louie said, walking towards the exit and slamming the door behind him.

_'What the hell is wrong with him? How did he...? Whatever'_

* * *

Celine Branford woke up in the train. It was still night and she hardly got some sleep. She decided to leave the room and observe the wonderful underwater tunnel that connects Balamb to Timber only to find out the Louie Leonhart was sitting in the ledge alone again.

"Hey." Celine said. Louie snapped out from his wonderment to face the source of the sound.

"Why are you awake this late?"

"Why are YOU awake this late?"

"I'm a vampire remember?" Louie answered, flashing a seldom smile the wonderfully worked its way through the darkness of the night.

"OMG. Did you just smile? I haven't seen you smile in like... ever."

"Sorry. I don't want my smile to be compared to your beautiful smile."

"What? Did you just compliment me?"

"What? NOO! Whatever Celine. I'm going back to sleep."


	26. Chapter 25: The SeeD Exam Pt2: Issues

**Chapter 25: The Field Exam Pt 2: Issues and Disturbances**

_"You fight...  
__not knowing the truth?"_

_-Sephiroth, Dissidia:Final Fantasy, Square Enix_

"Good Morning Squad F, in a few hours, we'll be reaching the city of Deling. Once we arrive at the train station, Vice President Caraway's security guards will lead us to the Caraway Mansion. The will make sure that no one detects their presence. Both Squads E and F will have the Caraway Mansion as their base camp. This is where you'll stay for the rest of the beginning of the revolution. Please be mindful that our goal is only to start a revolution. Our mission ends when that the revolution begins. A revolution will start with an ideology. The ideology will be provided by the Timber resistance groups. Your mission as Squad F is to buy G-army uniforms from the Black Market and go to Timber to retrieve the weapons of the other squads. President Caraway will provide the tactics for the revolution. I am Irvine Kinneas, 1st class Sharpshooter and I am the SeeD assigned to Squad F. We will be in the train for the whole day so if you have any questions, ask your group leader or proceed to the cabin to our left." Irvine Kinneas said.

He then went out of the cabin and left the children there.

"So.. you're the commander's son?" A girl with a slightly wide forehead, a high-pitched voice and curly black hair tightly tied up into a high pony ask Louie.

"Yeah." he replied.

"That's cool"

"So what's up with you and Celine?" Another girl with straight, rebonded brown hair, small green eyes and a mole above her lip asked him.

"Nothing." Louie answered. "We're friends."

"You don't talk much do you? Or are you just awkward that all your groupmates are girls again?" Another girl with big beautiful eyes and naturally straight black hair that falls up to her shoulders asked.

"...Whatever"

"Hey! It's cool. I'm Angie by the way."

"I'm Abbey" The green eyed girl said.

"Angel" The one with a wide forehead said.

"My name's Acy" Another girl who looks almost exactly like Angie but with a darker complexion said.

"I'm Andy" The last girl with short brown hair and a round face said.

"It's nice to meet all of you." Louie said "I'm gonna need your current SeeD status."

"By the way I'm a level 2 mid-ranged combat specialist, specifically, a gunblade specialist and a sor.. nothing. Each team was assigned one of the following; medic, close, mid and long ranged ranged combat specialists, GF and magic specialists."

"I guess I'm the medic. Level 2." Angel said

"GF specialist. Level 2 also." Acy added

"I'm a magic specialist, Andy is the long ranged combat specialist and Abbey is the close ranged combat specialist. We're all in level 2." Angie said.

"I see. Noted. You guys have any questions? I can go ask Uncle Irvine for you." Louie added.

"No we're good."

* * *

_We will be arriving in Deling City shortly. For those getting off, please be sure you have all your belongings._

"Everybody got their stuff? Okay this is the plan. Once we arrive, we will wait for black cars. Once a car arrives, the chauffeur will announce two names. One from this group and one from the other. Those cars will get you to the Caraway Mansion where you will be briefed and where you'll stay for the night. Are we all clear?" Irvine asked squad F. After being nodded at by the whole squad, they went off, joining the other squad while exiting the train.

Squads E and F, wearing civilian disguises waited for each of the black cars to arrive. The first one did just in time.

"Miss Acy August and Sir Lourence Michael." The first chauffeur said.

"Miss Angie Lily and Sir Ice Sayers" The second chauffeur arrived after a couple of minutes

"Miss Abbey Gale and Sir Jun Noh"

"Miss Angel Reen and Sir Josh Ang"

"Miss Andy Liz and Sir Jagger Naut"

"Squad Leaders Miss Celine Branford and Sir Louie Leonhart" the final chauffeur said.

"Hey Chev! Long time!" Louie apparently knew the chauffeur.

"Sir Louie! Yes it has been! Please enter the car."

* * *

_In the car_

"So you know the driver huh?" Celine asked Louie

"Yeah! He's the general's favorite chauffeur. His name's Chev"

"Chev?"

"Yeah! Short for Chev Rolet"

"You're kidding."

"I don't kid."

"So his full name's Chevrolet?"

"Yeah! Chev Rolet" Louie replied "Hey Chev! Got some drinks here?"

"Yes sir! What would you want this fine evening, sir?" The ironically named driver asked.

"Want something?" Louie asked Celine.

"No thanks!"

"I'll have an iced tea please!" Louie commanded.

"You better get some for the lovely lady. You'll find this ride a little too exasperating."

"You better get some!" Louie said.

"Is this how you get the girls? I have a boyfriend remember?"

"If you don't want any don't be such a bitch about it. Besides, I've never had a girlfriend and I was only offering you a drink because the driver said so."

"Do you honestly think that I would believe that the young Leonhart, son of the great commander Squall Leonhart, heir of the great Leonhart mansion and the Caraway Mansion has never had a girlfriend?"

"You forgot one title."

"What?"

"I'm the Ice Prince, Son of the Ice King whose frozen heart was melted by the sorceress. I don't want relationships just so she could hurt me in the end. I'd rather have no one and live alone but content than break my heart and ruin my life forever." Louie argued. "She doesn't want any Chev."

The car was awkwardly silent for the rest of the ride. The final black car drove all around the city to be sure that nobody is following it. The moon shone brightly as the car finally entered the Caraway Mansion. The car halted and the Squad leaders exited the car. They were surprised to find the Vice President waiting for them. They immediately did the SeeD salute.

"Follow me" General Caraway said as he walked towards the front door of his mansion. Thoughts of nostalgia filled the mind of the young Leonhart as he greeted the "door opener" he hadn't seen for so long. The great hall was eerily different but utterly the same for the sorcerer. He walked past the grand staircase that he would play on and entered the study. There, he saw his squad-mates alongside the squad-mates of his companion. As the vice president entered, he closed the door shut. A hint of worry was imminent in his face as he walked towards his table.

"Today is not an ordinary day. Today, we fight. I expect each one of you to be as ready as he can be. There are no room for errors. Squad E, led by Miss Celine Branford, will take care of getting back the weapons of squads C and D. You will do this tomorrow morning. At 900 hours, you'll be leaving for G-Garden where the headmaster is hiding the weapons. Weapons are to be used for emergencies only. Doing otherwise will result to point deduction and might cost you your SeeD title."

"Squad F, led by Mister Louie Leonhart, are tasked to go to Timber to retrieve the weapons. G-army uniforms are required for this task but not to worry. I have them set-up and ready for you to wear tomorrow morning. Lights out tonight will not be implemented as you need to study Deling City on your own. However, you must be here by 2200 hours for you to be able to get enough rest for tomorrow. Any questions? If there are none, Bob will show you to your rooms."

* * *

Louie Leonhart was walking the silent hall that he knew like the back of his hand. He suddenly heard a chuckle from behind. He turned and saw no one.

"Just come out! I know you're here." Louie told the unseen sound.

"Okay okay! You got me!" Carlos came out of the wall.

"What are you doing here?"

"Nothing. Can't a guy go to his grandfather's house to visit his grandfather? Besides, we wanted to see you on your first mission."

"What do you mean we? You brought the others?"

"Yeah! Does it bother you?"

"YES!"

"Good"


	27. Chapter 26: The SeeD Exam Pt 3: Vague

**Chapter 26: The Field Exam Pt. 3: A Vague Mission**

It was 10:00 PM. Nick Kinneas was asleep in the red velvet couch inside their secret room. The orphanage gang had one built for the kids to enjoy in while they were in the mansion. Carlos Almasy and Chris Kinneas were playing pool while John Dincht and Louie Leonhart were playing cards.

"I guess I win again, Chicken Wuss" Louie said in a low, tired voice.

"Awww man! It's been the sixth time now! I was so good at this game!" John exclaimed.

Carlos turned around from the pool table. "Oh yeah loser? Since when are you good at anything?"

The whole gang started to laugh. Just then, Louie stood up.

"Hey! Where are you going?" Chris asked as he stood from his position in the pool table.

"I have to go. We have to be gathered in the study by 11." Louie answered, heading for the secret exit.

"Okay. Good Luck on your mission bro!" Carlos said. "And be careful with your magic."

Louie smirked. "Will do. Have fun livin' the easy life bitches… While you still can."

He put his thumb over the thumbprint analyzer. _Identify._

"Louie Leonhart"

_Voice recognition verified. Opening secret entrance now. _

Louie walked out of the secret room and the entrance closed quickly behind him. He had 30 minutes to return to the study so he decided to freshen up first.

He took the elevator ride to the third floor, a restricted area for the students; he walked the dark, empty hall towards his room at the end. He reached his door and was about to open it when he felt an eerie feeling. Like someone… or something was following him. He turned around. He saw nothing but a black feather falling steadily to the carpeted floor. He hastily turned back around, opened his door and went in.

His room was how he left it a year ago, except for the bed, where his squad's G-Army uniform lies. They were suppose to get one from the black market but it seems that Vice President Caraway took care of it. Louie went straight to the shower and washed up. He wore a plain white shirt and black pajamas. He grabbed the G-Army uniforms and exited the room.

"Lock" Louie said. The door made a slight clicking sound. _Room Locked._

The feather was gone. The hall was empty and not as dark as it used to be.

_Maybe I'm just sleepy. I'm gonna need some coffee. _Louie dismissed the thought as the elevator door opened. He went in and it closed. As the elevator descended, he thought about his mission. It was to start a revolution. _How vague_. Louie complained. He knew nothing of how to do this mission. The elevator door opened while Louie was still deep in thought. On the other side was a brown-haired girl who snapped her fingers at his face, snapping him back to reality.

"Hey. Where did you go?" Celine asked.

"Oh. I.. uh.. went to get the uniforms."

"Well, let's go. It's 11 pm. We're gonna be late."

"Right."

They started to walk. There was an obvious awkward air between them, probably from the argument in the car.

"Look, Louie I-" Celine broke the silence.

"Just.. forget it." Louie hastily stopped the awkward conversation from continuing.

Silence.

"But-"

"I said forget it. It's okay."

Silence. again.

"I'm sorry." Celine said.

"Me too." Louie answered coldly

"Friends again?"

"Whatever... So what about this misson huh?"

"What about it?" Celine asked.

"Well.." Louie explained. "It seems... vague... doesn't it?"

"This mission? Well, ours isn't."

"The whole mission... I mean... starting a revolution? I don't even know how to start a damn car."

"Now that you mentioned it." Celine reached out to the knob of the door to the study. "Yeah. It does seem kind of... unclear."

Celine opened the door to the study. "Tell me about it" Louie replied as they entered the study together. It seems that the whole party was there except for Vice President Caraway.

"Where's the Vice President?" Celine asked.

"We don't know." Acy answered.

"We found this here. I guess it's from him." Lourence handed a sealed envelope where the words "Leaders" were written.

"We wanted to wait for you before we opened it." Angie added.

Celine grabbed the envelope and handed it to Louie. There was an eerie feeling all around the room. No one could explain why they felt this way It was is if that letter wasn't supposed to be there and this was not part of the plan. Louie took the envelope and sat with the rest of the group. He slowly opened the seal and took out the letter that was inside. The eeriness grew as he opened the folds of the letter. What was written inside confirmed their feelings. In that one moment, the vague mission that they were given was not so vague anymore. It was clear now and how they all wished it wasn't.

"What does it say?" asked Josh.

"Vice President Caraway..." Louie answered slowly. "... was kidnapped."

* * *

"You are going to pay for this. Any time now, people will arrive to rescue me. My people." Caraway shouted. He was tied down in a metal chair in a dark, almost familiar room.

"Really? I would pay for this? Think, Fury, think. I, the president of the same country you are trying to overthrow, will pay for kidnapping you, the treacherous Vice President of Galbadia?" Vince Deling, the president of Galbadia and kidnapper of the Vice President faced away from the man who was tied up.

"I'm trying to do the right thing, Vince."

"The right thing. The right thing? Do you think this is the right thing?"

"Freedom is what people need."

"Freedom is what people want. It is nothing but a false hope, Fury. You should know that."

"You're wrong, Vince. You'll pay."

"Says who? You?" Vince Deling turned to face Caraway. "You who can be sentenced to death for treason, having a private army and forming a rebellion?"

"Tell me, Fury." Vince walks closer to the Vice President. "Are you really doing this for freedom?" The president came closer, until he was face to face with his vice president. Then he whispered. "Or are you doing this just to please your little snake of a sorceress daughter?"

"Leave my daughter out of this, Vince!" Fury shouted angrily. Vince Deling laughed as he pulled away from his awkwardly threatening position.

"You're pathetic." Vince said. He turns around and orders his guards to take his prisoner away.

"Stop." Vince shouted. The guards immediately put down the chair where Caraway was held hostage and saluted to the president.

"Just one more thing, Fury, before I torture your poor, pathetic soul." Vince faced Caraway and walked towards him again.

Caraway looked at him angrily. "What?"

"Is Garden involved in this?"

There was a moment of silence as Fury Caraway looked deep into Vince Deling's eyes with anger and intent. "No"


	28. Chapter 27: A Vague Mission No More

**Chapter 27: The Field Exam Pt. 4: A Vague Mission No More**

Irvine Kinneas walked down from the grand staircase. He was upset. The mission has already started but his squads haven't even left the house, let alone went out to the field. He was walking hastily even though he never really knew what was happening. He opened the door to the study and there he found his two squads, all dressed up in their normal battle clothes, not the clothing they were assigned to wear.

Louie stepped forward and handed Irvine the letter.

"It was left here. for us. They know."

"What?" Irvine asked angrily as he took the letter and opened it. He then sat down on an empty chair and read the letter. His angry blue eyes dilated and his forehead began to sweat. He stood up.

"Where did you find this?" he asked.

"There." Louie answered, pointing at the study table where the letter mysteriously appeared. "It was sealed in this." Louie then handed the envelope where it the word _"Leader" _was legibly handwritten. "They know."

"We have to inform the others." Irvine answered wearily. "Louie. I am trusting you now."

"But. Uncle. I-"

"Listen to me. Get the boys upstairs and make them stay here. Do not tell them about the situation-"

"But Uncl-"

"Listen to me, Louie. This is not your fight anymore. Your task is to stay here and keep your squad safe. I am getting you to Balamb Garden as soon as I have the chance. In the meantime, stay here."

"But the Vice Preside-"

"We'll take care of it. Now. Go get the boys and stay here. Am I clear?"

"Clear."

"You know where the windows are. You know where the door is. You know where the underground passage is. Watch over these places. Attacks can come from everywhere. They know you are here. do you understand?"

"I understand." Just then, Irvine Kinneas's cellphone rang. Irvine picked it up and answered it.

"Squall. We have a situation." Irvine says as he exits the room. After a while, Irvine returned with Nick, Chris, Carlos and John. They all entered the study.

"The SeeD exam is canceled. All of you. And I mean ALL of you" Irvine said as he looks at his sons, Nick and Chris. "Are to stay here until further notice. No-" Irvine was cut off by a sudden opening of the door to the study. Three men, all in black grabbed Irvine Kinneas by the neck and attempted carried him off.

"Dad!" Nick shouted as he started running outside.

"Nick don't!" Louie exclaimed as he followed Nick to the Grand Foyer which was right outside the study. To his surprise, there were about ten to fifteen men in black in the Hall. They were trapped.

"Shit!"

"Louie! What the-" Celine shouted as she exited the study, not knowing about what is really going on just outside the doors.

"Holy crap." was all Celine could say in shock.

"Pull out your weapon!" Louie shouted. At that moment, the men in black also brought out their black guns with silencers. Tension was high and the teenagers were trapped in a circle of black men ready to fire at them once they make their move. No one dare move a finger. The guns were pointed at the teenagers and it seems that they have no other choice but to surrender. Nick, Louie and Celine brought their backs together.

"I'm gonna cast a powerful Protect spell. Once I do, there's our chance. Got it?" Louie, always with the plan, whispered to the two other teenagers. They were trapped and outnumbered but they will never be outmatched.

Louie slowly lifted his right arm to his gunblade which was strapped on to his waist. He breathed a deep sigh and closed his eyes.

...Tension...

"Now!" Louie shouted as he pulled out his gunblade and defended himself from the bullets. He quickly cast a strong Firaga spell on the party in front of him, then proceeded to slash them one by one. In a matter of minutes, nothing was left but a pool of blood and about ten to fifteen dead bodies. Louie, Celine and Nick were panting heavily as they walked back towards the study. As they opened the door, they were surprised to find the room empty and the secret passageway to the sewers were open.

"Bullshit! What the hell happened here?" Louie exclaimed.

"I don't know. They escaped?" Celine replied, entering the room and scanning a few objects.

"Guys." Nick's voice was trembling. He was standing in front of the secret passageway, staring at what was lying on the floor. Louie and Celine walked towards the brown-haired boy's location. It was a letter that was identical to the first one. It read: "Leonhart"

Although hesitant, they opened it together. It read:

_"They're here. If you want them, get them."_

Just then, the doors to the study swung open and in came Squall Leonhart.

"Dad! What are you doing here?" Louie stood up. "I thought you were at Garden."

"The Gardens are on the run. We have to get out of here. Where is Irvine?" Squall answered.

"What about the SeeD exam?"

"Forget it. Where is Irvine?!"

The room fell silent. Nick hands Louie the letter. Louie then gives it to his father. Squall reads the letter. He then takes a moment to sigh.

"We have to get out of here." Squall finally said as he was moving towards the door.

"Dad. What about the bodies?" Louie stopped his father from opening the doors to the horrific bloodbath outside.

"What bodies?" It seems that the commander did not see anything as he walked in to the study. To their surprise, as the walked out of the study and into the Foyer, the bodies were gone.

"Where the hell-" Nick muttered in shock.

Squall hurried towards the front door. "We have no time. Let's go!"

They walked towards the front door.

"Dad. Wait! What if they're there." Louie said.

"We're safe here. The area's surrounded. All possible entrances are now covered. Come on."

They walked outside, stepped into a helicopter and flew to Hyne knows where. The helicopter ride was silent. Faces seem to look to the distance. The situation is alarming but the mood in the helicopter is far from an alerted state. The helicopter finally lands in a snow-laden landscape. A few kilometers from where they landed, a huge crater is seen surrounded by black mountains with snow on top.

"Trabia?" Louie asked.

"This is where all the Gardens are." Squall answered, handing the teenagers thick fur coats to protect them from the icy weather. The helicopter engine stopped and the driver went down. It was an all too familiar Nida who was driving the helicopter.

"Uncle Nida! I didn't even notice that you were the driver." Louie exclaimed.

"Lot of tension huh?" Nida asks Squall.

"Ugh. Don't even get me started." Squall answered.

Suddenly, the ground they were all standing on started to shake and eventually, it started to descend. They watched the helicopter get dragged by gigantic metallic arm from the side while they were still descending. The walls around them were starting to compress into a tight little space fit for an elevator. In a few seconds, they were riding the familiar Balamb Garden elevator.

"We're home." Louie said with a sigh of relief. The elevator comes to a halt. Selphie Kinneas was standing in front of the elevator. Squall hands Selphie the letter. She reads it. A single tear escaped from her eye and then she walked away slowly.

"Go to your dorms. I will explain everything in the morning." Squall instructed the students as they exit the elevator.

"What? Dad, what about Carlos, Chris and John?"

"I said GO TO BED!" Squall shouted. This alarmed Louie as he went straight down the stairs.

He walked silently with Celine Branford and Nick Kinneas walking beside him.

"I'll go to the Library. I can't sleep now. I'll... see you tomorrow, Louie?"

"We'll see them tomorrow, dude. I promise."

Nick smiles a broken smile at them and slowly walks away. The pair walked silently and awkwardly towards the dormitories. When they reached the sign that read "Dormitory", Louie stopped.

"You should go to sleep." Louie said.

"What about you?" Celine asked.

Louie laughed a broken laugh as his eyes started to get moist. "Wouldn't be able to sleep if I tried."

There was a moment of silence as Louie fought to hold back the tear that built up in his eye.

"Louie.." Celine put her hand on Louie's shoulder. The boy immediately shoved it away, moving his face away from the brown-haired girl as he did.

"Alright." Celine said as she started walking away.

"Good night." Louie whispered as the tear he was holding back dropped from his eyes. He walked away from the dorms, with his head bowed down. He honestly didn't know where to go. He continued walking along the circle that was surrounding the elevator. The lights were dim and he was alone in the halls, but he didn't care.


End file.
